WASHINGTON, March 27 (UPI) -- Keeping bird-strike information under wraps makes flying safer by encouraging reporting of the strikes, U.S. aviation regulators said Friday.
The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed adding bird strikes to the categories of information where those who report it are guaranteed privacy, ABC News reported. The agency has treated bird strike reports as confidential in the past but has not formally classified them that way.
Bird strikes caught public attention in January when a U.S. Airways plane lost power in both engines shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York. The pilot, Chesley Sullenberger, crash-landed the jet in the Hudson River, saving the lives of the passengers and crew.
William Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, told ABC he agrees that confidentiality can help the FAA gather data. But he said that the agency should release aggregated data on bird strikes to the public and academics.
