- [Narrator] This is Laura Francoeur.

She's the chief wildlife biologist

for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

She's been managing wildlife at airports

for over 20 years.

- And it's made a nest in the light pole up there.

- [Narrator] Here at New York's

John F. Kennedy's International Airport,

she says birds are the wildlife group

most frequently struck by aircrafts.

- We're located right on Jamaica Bay.

There's a lot of water resources around us

and that's very attractive to bird populations,

especially shore birds and waterfowl.

- [Narrator] And if these animals find their way

onto the runway, it could create a problem

for aircrafts taking off and landing.

So Francoeur is here to explain

why wildlife strikes can be dangerous,

how to mitigate them

and what steps are taken after a collision

to make sure your fight lands safely.

(lively music)

- A strike occurs when there's been wildlife

that strikes an aircraft

and that's been witnessed by someone,

whether that's a pilot, airline crew

or someone on the ground

or if there's damage to the aircraft

or if there is a carcass of wildlife

that's found on the ground in the runway environment.

- [Narrator] On average, 47 strikes are reported daily,

and in 2020, 94% of them involved birds.

Most wildlife strikes

are gonna occur during departure or arrival.

And the reason for that is they're sort

of in a low flight phase.

So the aircraft are lower to the ground

so they're more likely to strike wildlife.

- [Narrator] Francoeur says most strikes don't result

in any damage to the aircraft

and the ones that do range in severity.

- It could be the light on the landing gear is broken.

So it could be very minor

or it could be much more serious,

such as an engine ingestion

and they have to replace an entire engine.

Or the radome on the aircraft,

which is sort of in the nose of an aircraft

and there's a lot of very expensive avionics components

that are in there.

- [Narrator] Repairing these types of damages isn't cheap.

In 2020, for example, the cost of wildlife strikes

to the US civil aviation industry

was projected to be $124 million

and at least 75,000 hours of aircraft downtime.

- A little delay in New York,

like a 15-minute delay

can cause a ripple across the whole air traffic system

and we're aware of that.

So that's our goal is to try and keep everything moving

and as safe as possible.

- [Narrator] Airports are on especially high alert

for strikes in the late summer and fall

because of bird migrations.

- It's not just the movement of the birds,

which you get in the spring migration also

but the fact that now you're getting naive birds

that are flying for the first time.

They've just fledged that summer.

- [Narrator] During this time,

there could be a strike every day

or even multiple strikes a day.

(pensive music)

- Everything's looking for food, cover and water.

And so that's your first goal

is to eliminate or reduce the food

and cover and water that's available in the airport.

And so habitat management

is your go-to first stop for that.

And it's the best long-term strategy

that you can use for managing wildlife on an airport.

- [Narrator] One example of habitat management,

cutting grass to a specific height.

- If you have grass that's too short,

there's a lot of birds that like open areas

so that they can see the predators around them.

So you will attract those species.

And then if you have the grass height too tall

or when it's more unmanaged,

you might get a lot of small mammals,

rabbits and other kind of medium-sized mammals

that are actually hiding in the grass.

And that potentially can attract larger raptors, hawks.

- [Narrator] This is an anti-perching device,

another form of habitat management.

- And you can see that it has a pointy cap on that.

We worked with different shapes.

This was the winner here.

And actually, no birds perch on those anymore.

- [Narrator] Wildlife management staff

also patrol the airfield every day,

looking for holes underneath fences

where wildlife can get through,

nests on airport structures

and ponding if there's been heavy rain or snow.

- We're managing everything from insects,

spraying, pesticides and making sure

that we're not having wildlife such as raccoons,

possums, starlings, pigeons attracted to dumpsters.

- [Narrator] And sometimes, they'll use tools like this

(gun shooting)

to disperse birds from the runway.

- Pyrotechnics is one of the most common ones.

(gun shooting) (whistling sound)

It provides both a visual

and an auditory component

that will scare wildlife off the airport.

(car hooting)

Even simple things like honking the horn on our vehicle

or just driving with the vehicle

will flush a lot of birds right off the airport.

- [Narrator] Traps are also set up around the airfield

to catch starlings and pigeons,

which in addition to being hazards to aircraft,

can also draw in raptors and other birds

as a prey source.

They'll go after the bait that's up here.

They think that there might be more bait down below,

and so they'll drop down this tube.

It makes it very difficult for them

to fly straight back up.

- [Narrator] Some species, like this American kestrel

are released at least 30 miles from the airport

with a numbered band around their leg.

- From that, we get good data

on is that bird staying away from the airport?

Is it hanging around?

- [Narrator] So what happens when there is a strike?

- If a pilot calls in that they had a strike

on departure or arrival,

the first thing we're gonna do

is send someone out to inspect that runway.

If it's an aircraft that's on departure,

we may reach out to the airport

that they're headed towards

and let 'em know that there's a aircraft coming in

that had a strike and to please collect the snarge.

- [Narrator] This is snarge,

the remains of a bird after a strike.

- This is all that's left from this strike.

But it's clearly a snowy owl.

And this is where we put all the wildlife remains

that we find out in the airfield

while we're completing the strike reports.

- [Narrator] Sometimes when it's a very small amount

of material, it can be difficult to identify the species.

- So a sample of this will be sent

to the Smithsonian Institution's Feather ID Lab

for identification, and they'll be able

to identify the species for us.

- [Narrator] Qualified maintenance teams also review

most bird strikes for any damage.

If the damage is minor,

like a broken light lens cap,

it can be quickly repaired between flights.

But if it's more severe

or a snarge needs to be cleaned off multiple parts

of the aircraft, for example,

this can lead to delays or canceled flights.

- Our goal in wildlife is not just the safety

of the aircraft.

That's the main thing but also, we wanna make sure

that we're not impacting airport operations.

So even if you do have some sort

of strike that doesn't cause damage,

we want those aircraft to continue moving

and we don't wanna disrupt air traffic.

- Clear, check with the 9904.

- [Narrator] To ensure that your flight takes off

and lands safely, and on time,

wildlife management teams run diverse programs year round

to target the airport's unique wildlife population.

- If we're doing our job well,

you don't notice us at all

and we should be silent and hidden and invisible

to the average traveler.

- [Narrator] Unless you happen to be hanging out

with a flock of birds.

(horn honking)