Wildlife hazard risk in aviation and climate changing

Abstract

Interactions between aviation and the environment are rather complex, and consist of both wildlife strike hazards and negative impacts on protected species and habitats. Rapid growth of air traffic causes systematic growth in wildlife strike numbers. Climate changes affect geographical distributions of some big bird species that are hazardous to aviation. One can expect a concomitant growth of wildlife strike risk caused by species such as geese, gulls and corvids in next 30-50 years. Therefore significance of the complex and interdisciplinary proactive approach to manage the risk, will grow. Its success, measured by increased aviation safety, will depend on a fruitful co-operation among aviation and non-aviation stakeholders and experts. This co-operation includes aviation authorities, scientists as ornithologists, ecologists, land owners, and local governments. Additionally, a civil-military as well as international co-operation is extremely important, aiding in radar data analysis or legislation, for example.