A total of 841 incidents in which military or civil aircraft struck birds were reported in Taiwan from 2002 to last year.
Such incidents potentially pose a serious hazard to flight safety and lead to an unnecessary increase in the aviation industry's operational costs, the Taiwanese Flight Safety Foundation's committee on bird strikes said in a report released on Thursday.
Emergency measures
Aircraft sustained damage in 108 of these cases, while in another 22 cases the aircraft were either forced to return soon after takeoff, turn back in mid-flight or take emergency measures, resulting in subsequent flights being canceled or runways being closed, the report said.
It said that over the last 16 years, four multi-million dollar aircraft belonging to the air force have crashed as a result of bird strikes.
Although there were no reported bird strike-related crashes involving civil aircraft, airlines have suffered huge losses because of damage caused by bird strikes to the engines or other components of their aircraft, the report said.
Take off and landing
The report said that 686 of the total of 841 bird strikes occurred during landing, while 132 occurred during takeoff.
The committee proposed that in addition to installing bird dispersing devices, airports should also conduct bird species surveys and work out bird strike prevention plans to ensure flight safety.
To reduce bird strikes, airports can make changes to terrain around the airport to reduce its attractiveness as a habitat for birds.
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