Abstract
Airport falconry is a highly effective technique for reducing wildlife strikes on aircraft, which cause great economic losses. As an example, nowadays, wildlife strikes on aircrafts in the air transport industry are estimated to cost between USD 187 and 937 million in the US and USD 1.2 billion worldwide every year. Moreover, the life-threatening danger that wildlife strikes pose to passengers has prompted security stakeholders to develop countermeasures to prevent wildlife impacts near airport transit zones. The experience acquired from international countermeasure analysis reveals that falconry is the most effective technique to create sustainable wildlife exclusion areas. However, its application in airport environments continues to be regarded as an art rather than a technique; falconers modulate raptors’ behavior by using a trial-and-error system of controlling their hunger to stimulate the need for prey. This paper focuses on a case study where such a decision-making process was designed as a dynamic system applied to feeding planning for raptors that can be used to set an efficient baseline to optimize raptor responses without damaging existing wildlife. The results were validated by comparing the outputs of the model and the falconer’s trial-and-error system, which revealed that the proposed model was 58.15% more precise.
Highlights
The expenses incurred by the US civil air transport industry resulting from wildlife strikes, which cost between USD 187 and 937 million annually over a period of 24 years [1], agree with the figures in international studies
The feeding factor was used as a control parameter to set new feeding objectives, because it refers to a basal metabolic rate that depends on the actual weight of the raptor
The mean square error (MSE) for the models designed with Vensim for each raptor was always lower than that obtained from actual observations of the airport falconer
Summary
The expenses incurred by the US civil air transport industry resulting from wildlife strikes, which cost between USD 187 and 937 million annually over a period of 24 years [1], agree with the figures in international studies. Because wildlife near airports and air transit areas increase the risk of such an event, it is considered a real and serious threat to passengers, aircraft crew, and the air transport industry in general [5]. These circumstances prompted airport managers and security stakeholders [6] to develop procedures to prevent wildlife hazards in airport landscapes. A falconer develops a feeding process for each raptor based on personal experience that forces the raptor to hunt when it is released
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