Vancouver International Airport (YVR) often appears on lists of the world's best airports (see here for example), and deservedly so in our opinion.
YVR is ordinarily a one-hour drive from our house, depending on border waits and traffic, and we always look forward to using it. Our house sits in the same general geographical area, not that far from the Fraser River Delta, and we regularly see flocks of Canada geese nesting around our lake and flying overhead.
It was a flock of Canada geese that brought down US Airways #1549 in 2009, leading to the Miracle on the Hudson landing by Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger. Other bird strike incidents have not ended so happily.
We were therefore very interested to read an article last week in the Vancouver Sun:
Fowl Play: a peek behind the scenes as B.C. airports try to prevent bird strikes
The horrible accident involving an army helicopter and an American Airlines Express flight that occurred earlier this week near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) serves as a reminder that bad things still can happen in the air, even though commercial flying has been transformed since we two were children into an amazingly safe way to travel.
The FAA offers a lot of information about bird strikes here, and the article makes the reassuring claim that YVR "has one of the most advance wildlife management systems in the world," while also pointing out that other airports may not.
It's also surprising to read the sheer numbers of bird strikes that occur at YVR and other airports:
Vancouver reported the most wildlife strikes in Canada in 2022, according to Transport Canada data, with 191 strikes compared to 157 at Toronto’s Pearson Airport. The data includes both bird strikes and mammal strikes, such as coyotes, which are far less common.
The FAA reports that most bird strikes are innocuous and that only about 3.6 per cent cause any damage to the plane.
It's quite possible that the investigation of this recent tragedy, the first fatal U.S. airline crash in 16 years, may result in tangible recommendations that will prevent a future recurrence.
It's hard to imagine any similar solution to solving the problem of bird strikes and "wildlife management" in general. It's an ongoing challenge. We can only hope that the statistics are on our side.
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