Growing safety concerns at airports nationally as bird strikes continue to rise

Описание: A recent emergency landing of an Amazon freight plane at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) has highlighted a growing concern over bird strikes affecting aircraft.

The incident, which occurred on Wednesday, involved a bird strike that took out one of the plane's engines, forcing an emergency landing.

This event is part of a broader trend, with pilots reporting 1,740 bird strikes at CVG between 2016 and 2025. This figure is nearly 300 more than Louisville, the next highest airport in the region, despite similar flight volumes to major hubs like UPS in Louisville and FedEx in Indianapolis.

Here are the totals for all six airports in the region:

CVG - 1740
Louisville - 1493
Indianapolis - 1175
Columbus - 975
Lexington - 448
Cleveland - 1140

Here are the national totals for that period:

201613376
201714758
201816208
201917349
202011625
202115642
202217223
202319623
202422366
202517873

Marcus Hagberg, chief operating officer for Wild Goose Chase, a company specializing in bird deterrence at airports, identified three main factors contributing to the rise in bird strikes: increased air traffic, airport expansion into bird habitats, and climate and habitat changes.

"Third would be climate and habitat changes. So, with changing migration patterns and changing food availability due to climate change and extended breeding seasons, all these create different factors as to why birds and airports are tending to come into conflict more," Hagberg said.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provided the data but was unavailable for comment. CVG, which also did not provide a spokesperson, has an FAA-approved wildlife mitigation program. Such programs nationally employ various strategies, including relocating bird nests, using dogs and lasers, and playing loud noises to deter birds.

The issue of bird strikes is not only a local concern but a national one, with incidents increasing over the past decade, although there was a slight decrease last year.

The potential danger of bird strikes was underscored by a 2024 incident where a Korean jet crashed after birds disabled both engines, resulting in fatalities.

Conversely, the "Miracle on the Hudson" demonstrated a successful emergency landing after a bird strike.
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