Aviation
Commercial /
Brazil
Fauna risk
ABEAR says bird strikes have increased; losses reach R$110
Bird on airport
Maarten Visser, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rafael Ramos
2/23/2022
The airlines associated with ABEAR (Brazilian Association of Airlines) recorded 110 million reais in losses from bird strikes. This number should be even higher, since not all Brazilian airlines are Abear members. Events of this type have occurred more frequently.
“From the first resumption of air operations, during the 2nd half of 2020, the “bird strikes” gained intensity and severity. From mid-2021 until now, the situation has worsened in terms of quantity, material losses and severity of damage to aircraft,” says ABEAR’s Director of Flight Safety and Operations, Ruy Amparo.
One explanation for this increase is that, during the months of greater confinement and little movement due to the pandemic, birds proliferated around runways and taxiways, posing an additional danger to aviation.
“In Congonhas, for example, the population of quer-queros grew a lot, breaking a certain local balance with the aircraft”, says Amparo. This type of incident is a significant threat to aviation and has already caused many accidents.
However, the number of serious accidents involving civil aircraft is quite low and it is estimated that there is only about 1 accident resulting in human death in a billion flight hours.
The concern with this type of incident is more due to financial losses. The average of incidents of this type was 24.2 collisions per 10,000 flights, an increase of about 12% compared to 2019. About 94% of incidents happened at the airport or in the so-called ASA (Area if Airport Security, a radius of 20 km from the center of the runway).
“The losses of Abear associates when there are aircraft collisions with birds of different species and other animals are more frequent than the population imagines. A public policy is needed to mitigate the risks and Abear, in partnership with other commercial aviation stakeholders, is committed to this”, said Eduardo Sanovics, president of Abear.
Planes can suffer major damage, needing maintenance and delaying flights. It is estimated that nearly 41,000 passengers were affected in 2021 alone.
Abear recalls that Cenipa and the Brazilian Air Force had the power to veto constructions or undertakings around airports that could attract birds and increase risks. However, Law 12,752/2012, in 2012, removed this attribution from Cenipa and the Brazilian Air Force, transferring it to the municipalities.
The lack of a regulation for this made the risk even greater. Although airports can handle bird species to other locations away from airports, native species need a permit before they can be removed and the process can be slow.
Abear and all stakeholders involved with the topic are preparing a draft decree to establish a National Committee on Fauna Risk to debate the topic and create public policy.
Ross Parmly/Unsplash
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Rafael Ramos
Aviation enthusiast from an early age, he had his first contacts with the area developing that good old habit of spending dozens of hours in front of the screens of Micrsoft Flight Simulator and other simulators. With a solid background in various technological areas, including engineering and chemistry, Rafael has rejoined aviation as editor and author of articles and materials on our portal, providing invaluable help to the dynamics and expansion of the website and the aeronautical community, bringing us the news and updates so indispensable for us to remain current in our area of operation.
   
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