Schiphol Fowl
At Schiphol, birds and planes share the same airspace. Sometimes it goes wrong.
According to the authors of the book Vogelen in Amsterdam (Ellen de Bruin, Jip Louwe Kooijmans and Geert Timmermans), the types of fowl that are most likely to collide with aeroplanes are seagulls, water birds (namely swans and geese), and birds of prey. To prevent such disquieting aviation accidents, the Amsterdam airport has a bird control unit (BCU). Armed with fully equipped vehicles sporting loudspeakers that emit supersonic bird calls and remote-controlled robotic hawks — these are among the many strategies deployed to discourage or scare away various species of birds. Sometimes it’s even a question of hunting them or catching them by the net (as with the Greater White Fronted Goose who has, over the years, increasingly taken a liking to the Schiphol swamp). Other tactics used by the BCU are dogs, border collies, who chase away the birds and laser beams or microwave (radiation?) signals. Even the grass in-between the landingstrips is sewn with a very obdurate grass that is unappealing for the geese that usually like to forage in the swampish grass polder of Schiphol.
Worlwide the collision with wildlife and aircraft has a long-winded history. The recent aircraft crash onto the Hudson river in New York which was caused by geese sucked into the plane’s engines has roused media attention. The worst tragedy happened in 1960 when a flock of starlings brought down a civilian plane, Eastern airlines flight 375, in Massachusetts killing 62 people, and in 1996, when 34 people died in a military aircraft in the Netherlands.
Related links:
Bird hit jet in emergency landing
Gevaar van vogels altijd aanwezig (Schiphol Nieuws)
Robotvogel (video on the Robotic hawk and other Bird Control Unit Strategies, in Dutch)