Bat collisions with civil aircraft in the Republic of Ireland over a decade suggest negligible impact on aviation safety

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• 作者：Thomas C. Kelly ; D. Paddy Sleeman…
• 关键词：Airports ; Air safety ; Bat strike ; Leisler’s bat ; Soprano Pipistrelle bat ; Natterer’s bat
• 刊名：European Journal of Wildlife Research
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：February 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：63
• 期：1
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Biomedical and Life Sciences
• 刊物主题：Zoology; Ecology; Fish & Wildlife Biology & Management;
• 出版者：Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• ISSN：1439-0574
• 卷排序：63

文摘

Globally, collisions between wildlife and aircraft are a serious threat to aviation safety. While reported collisions have increased in recent years, the impact of these collisions on air safety is rarely quantified. Here, we report all bat collisions (bat strikes) with civil aircraft known to have occurred in the Republic of Ireland over the 10-year interval, 2006–2015. Morphological and/or DNA identification techniques were used to identify chiropteran specimens to species level. In total, carcasses or remains from five bat strikes—three Leisler’s Nyctalus leisleri, one Soprano Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pygmaeus, and one Natterer’s Myotis nattereri—were recovered. The collisions are discussed in the context of (a) the rate of chiropteran strikes in relation to the number of civil aircraft movements and (b) possible damage caused to aircraft. Overall, however, bat strikes with aircraft appear to have a negligible effect on civil aircraft safety.