High-Risk Wildlife Strike Regions: An In-depth Visual Representation of Wildlife Strikes at and Around Part 139 Airports in Florida.

Wildlife strikes with aircraft have been and continue to be a problem in the aviation industry costing millions of dollars in both damage and delays. This study used the geoprocessing information system ArcGIS to depict wildlife strikes at Florida’s 26 Part 139 Airports from 2012 to 2021. Importing reports from the National Wildlife Strike Database into ArcGIS, this study used symbology and geoprocessing tools to create a color/ size gradient that depicts the risk (number of damaging strikes out of known strikes) at each airport. Using an interactive map with ArcGIS Online viewers can observe then select each airports vector point and view a table containing the important information on that airports strike data. Data like number of strikes during time of the day, strikes per weather conditions, and whether the strikes were damaging or not, are contained in the online resource. Attempts to study and depict wildlife strikes are limited, the industry and researchers need to continue research on a localized scale to help mitigate wildlife strikes