Use of avian GPS tracking to mitigate human fatalities from bird strikes caused by large soaring birds

1. Birds striking aircraft cause substantial economic loss worldwide and, more worryingly, human and wildlife fatalities. Designing effective measures to avoid fatal bird strikes requires in-depth knowledge of the characteristics of this incident type and the flight behaviors of the bird species involved.

2. The characteristics of bird strikes involving aircraft crashes or loss of human life in Spain were studied and compared to flight patterns of bird monitored by GPS. We tracked 210 individuals of the three species that cause the most crashes and human fatalities in Spain: griffon and cinereous vultures (Gyps fulvus and Aegypius monachus) and white storks (Ciconia ciconia).

3. All the crashes involved general aviation aircraft, while none were recorded in commercial aviation. Most occurred outside airport boundaries, at midday and in the warmest months, which all correspond with the maximum flight activity of the studied species.

4. Bird flight altitudes overlapped the legal ...