Minimum number of students 8
Duration 12 hours
From the early days of aviation, aircraft and animals (mainly birds) have had to share the same airspace and environment with the consequent conflict over the skies. In the last decades, the increasing air traffic, as well as the presence of birds associated with human activities, have caused the risk of birdstrikes, even with mitigation measures, to be a constant concern for aviation.
The interaction between wildlife and aviation depends on many factors: the type and volume of air traffic, the local wildlife, the number of airports and aerodromes, the land use, the protected natural areas surrounding aerodromes, the migratory species likely to collide with aircraft at certain seasons of the year, etc. These factors, combined with the increase in speed and technical characteristics of modern aircraft, are, in part, the cause of incidents which occasionally have significant consequences.
In order to avoid such incidents, airports must allocate human and material resources and implement mitigation measures. Most of the actions carried out by airports take place within the airport infrastructure. However, to achieve optimal results in wildlife management, the collaboration of the different Administrations is also required. It is essential to establish adequate territorial planning and coordination with the different administrative institutions: the different Ministries involved, Autonomous Communities, city councils and local environmental authorities or associations, both public and private (hunters, farmers, etc.), to achieve adequate wildlife management.
This training course has been developed by Maximiliano Gutiérrez Contreras, Gema Victoria Orgaz Romero, Alfonso Herrera Bachiller and Unai Fuente Gómez. With extensive and varied personal experiences in biology and engineering, they currently make up the SENASA's team of biologists advising the Spanish Civil Aviation Safety and Security Agency on issues related to the risks for aviation associated with wildlife. In addition to carrying out their tasks as Airport Inspectors, they have participated in the celebration of the National Wildlife Committees, in specific Working Groups on vultures and pigeon keeping activities, in the elaboration of the Wildlife Map of interest to Aviation and in the update of Doc 9137. Airport Services Manual Part 3 - Wildlife Hazard Management. Fifth Edition, 2020.
TIMETABLE: 15:00-19:00