Bird Strikes and Flight Safety in the Turkish Air Force

Transcription

1 183 Bird Strikes and Flight Safety in the Turkish Air Force Major Muzaffer Kauci The Turkish Air Force Introduction In last 15 years, the Turkish Air Force has lost one pilot and two aircraft because of birdaircraft collisions (Figure 1) and important civilian aircraft damages have been recorded, which resulted in forced landing emergencies. These accidents proved that spending money on preventing birdstrikes is one of the challenging aspects of flight safety in order to save lives and aircraft. As a first step to achieve this goal, types of birds are identified, habitats, breeding and national reservation areas are located, seasonal and daily local movements are observed, migration routes are determined and finally all information is collected to form the bird maps over Turkey and around the bases. Types of Birds: The birds mostly encountered in Turkey are categorized into two groups (Table 1). Table 1: Local and migrating birds in Turkey Local Birds Hawk Falcon Eagle Pigeon Owl Crow Raven Bat Turtle Dove Skylark Sparrow, etc. Migrating Birds Goose Stork Crane Starling Heron Mallard European coot Swallow Pelican Quail, etc. Migration Routes Since Turkey is a bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa, most of the migration routes pass through Turkey from north to south and south to north as shown in Figure 2. Geese stay in north Europe during summer, come to Turkey in winter. Quails start their journey from east Europe, pass through Black Sea, Turkey, east Mediterranean Sea and complete their trip at Africa. Honey buzzards (Pernis apivorus) begin their flight from East Europe, fly over Caucasia,

2 184 East Turkey, Syria, Israel, Egypt, and reach Africa. Storks migrate from central Europe, fly over Thrace, the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, Lakes Area, Iskenderun Bay in Turkey, Syria and Israel and Egypt, ending their migration in South Africa. They are very dangerous since they fly in large numbers. Breeding areas: East Europe and the north part of Turkey are the incubation areas, south and east Africa are the winter habitation areas for birds (Figure 3). Winter Habitation Areas Incubation Figure 3: Winter habitation and breeding areas. Also there are other breeding areas widely spread over Turkey since the landscape is surrounded by sea on three sides. Additionally, Turkey has a warm climate, large lakes, newly built dams, national parks, and forests (Figure 4). Figure 4: Main breeding areas. Black SE Aegen Sea Mediterrannean Incubation Seasonal

3 185 Bandırma National Park - Flamingo and other water birds, Gala Lake Geese, mallards, bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) Dalyan - Cettia cetti Delta of Göksu - One of the most important habitation areas in winter and summer Eregli Reedbed - Pelicans Sultan Reedbed - Important breeding area Erçek Lake - At the end of breeding season, little grebes (Tachybaptus ruficollis) meet in very large numbers Arhavi and around - Migration of extensive numbers of birds of prey can be observed during September and October Delta of Bafra - During migration period large numbers of mallards and geese are observed and in summer breeding area for cranes Kızılcahamam Soguksu National Park - Storks and black vultures. Seasonal Movements: In summer season, breeding areas and bird movements are widely spread over Turkey (Figure 5). Figure 5: Summer movements and breeding areas. In the winter season, birds move mainly toward the habitation areas, as shown in the months of December and February (Figure 6). Spring is the season when dense bird activity is observed. Birds mostly fly to East Europe to breed. The area between Adana, Çukurova, Seyhan, Ceyhan and Iskenderun is the center where three main migration routes are separated from south to north (Figure 7). First route: to the west, through Lakes Area, Istanbul, Thrace Second route: to the north, through Yesilırmak, Kızılırmak Third route: to the east, through Southeast Anotalian area, Van Lake In autumn, the birds fly back to hot areas in Africa following the spring route in the opposite direction over Turkey (Figure 8).

4 186 Figure 6: Winter season movements and habitation areas. Figure 7: Spring season migration routes.

5 187 Figure 8: Autumn season migration routes. Each season, very dense bird activity can easily be seen over Turkey. These seasonal movements should be followed carefully and all necessary action should be taken seriously for to achieve maximum degree of flight safety to minimize birdstrikes. Bird Aircraft Collision Statistics: Statistics of the last ten years are presented in Table 2. Table 2: Bird-aircraft collision numbers. Year Takeoff Airborne Landing Unknown Total

6 188 The number of strikes during takeoff (Table 3) and landing (Table 4) phases are decreased successfully by following most of the harassing techniques accepted worldwide. Actually, total flight hours are increased each year and all the tables do not present the ratios. It is obvious some progress has been made, but some work still has to be done to decrease the numbers of airborne strikes to the tolerable limits (Table 5) Table Table Table

7 189 Above: F-16 of the Turkish Air Force just Landed in the IAF base, Israel. Regulation orders in Hebrew (Photos: Amir Modan, IAF Magazine) Below: Joining forces between the Turkish and the Israeli Air Forces in an IAF air base

8 190 Above: A Turkish Air Force Seargent is watching an Israeli F-16 just landed in Turkey (Photos: Amir Modan, IAF Magazine) Below: Refueling of an IAF F-15 with a Turkish tanker in Turkey

9 191 The statistics of the last three years grouped by types of aircraft are presented in Table F-16 F-4 F-5 T-38 KC- 135 TCN- C-130 C-10 T As can be noticed easily, types of aircraft that had the most birdstrikes are F-16 s and F-4 s. Actually, F-16 and F-4 flights constitute most of the hours and low level flights compared to the other aircraft, but on the average the number of birdstrikes with F- 16s is a little bit higher. From these results it may be concluded that color, shape, and size of the aircraft might be an effective factor. Still, some more information and results of scientific observations performed by experts are needed to get a clear picture. Procedures Followed at Base Level: Every part of Turkey has a different bird profile. Therefore, each base should prepare its own wildlife management plans, form qualified BASH (bird aircraft strike hazard) teams, record the dynamic nature of local and seasonal wildlife movements, cooperate with biologists and wildlife preservation groups, analyze all the information to schedule base flight activities, and train the personnel. This is a really difficult and time-consuming task. In all bases most of the worldwide-accepted measures are followed; Moving the airfield to the recommended height (15-30 cm) Preventing the grass going to seed Chopper flights if extensive birds around Drying the areas where water accumulated No trees where birds build nests

10 192 Planting pine trees Birds of prey Distress calls Models of human and birds of prey Industrial or agricultural fireworks Pyrotechnics (shellcrakers, bird bombs, screamers) Live ammunition Scheduling flight hours (sundown, sunset, daily, monthly, seasonally) Limited low-level flights during critical days (3000 feet AGL and above) Observation personnel (on tower and around the base) Bright, shiny tapes Bird Watch Condition Codes (red, blue, yellow) Removing garbage-dumping areas away from the airfields Sirens and noise BASH team activities Collection of information to form statistics Mechanics of the Plan All these base level precautions are taken into consideration by a Bird Aircraft Collision Avoidance Committee, which determines their areas of responsibility under Turkish Air Force Regulations regarding standard flight safety rules. This committee has monthly meetings consisting of base and squadron flight safety officers and the other air field management personnel and chaired by the Base Operation Commander. They should form their Management Control Plans annually considering the bird activity profile around the base. They should carefully examine following subjects; Flight routes Flight altitudes Habitats Fight times and periods (daily, seasonally) Thermal currents Geographic formations (lakes, rivers, sea sides) Agricultural areas Garbage-dumping areas Breeding areas Migration routes Bird Watch Condition Codes Yellow, blue and red color coding system is employed at the bases to announce the degree of birdstrike hazards to the pilots to take necessary action. (Table 7)

11 193 Table 7: Bird watch condition codes Yellow Blue Red Bird activity creates no danger There are birds around that may create a hazard Pilots should pay extra attention to the birds No formation landings and takeoffs Landing lights on Low level flights are not recommended Extreme amount of birds No takeoffs Change altitude at least 3000 feet above ground Plan direct approach, fullstop landing Also, all base operation personnel tasked for harassment of birds take the necessary actions to alleviate the hazards. Conclusions What we should learn from birdstrike hazards: Knowing and understanding birds Following safety rules strictly Dynamic measures Allocatong funds. Actually, all available new information, tools and techniques should be imported and employed dynamically. More detailed local maps showing bird movements and statistics that give useful information should be prepared to lessen birdstrike hazards around the airfields. Departure patterns, air corridors, and even instrument approach should be revised, at least to avoid dense bird migration routes.

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