FAA Wildlife Strike Database

The FAA offers answers to many of the most common questions about Wildlife Aircraft Strikes.

About the FAA Wildlife Strike Database

The FAA Wildlife Strike Database contains records of reported wildlife strikes since 1990. Strike reporting is voluntary. Therefore, this database only represents the information we have received from airlines, airports, pilots, and other sources.

There are two ways to view information in the database:

  1. Do a quick search from the Search the Database page. You can export the results to Microsoft Excel.
  2. Download the complete FAA Wildlife Strike Database in Microsoft Access format, and create your own queries.

Our search tool shows key information for each wildlife strike, including Date, Airport, Airline, Aircraft, and Species. To view all 94 fields of information for one or more reports, you must open the complete database. You can also visit the FAQ page for Frequently Asked Questions about wildlife strikes.

Quick Facts

  • The FAA has maintained a wildlife strike database since 1990.
  • The FAA wildlife strike database has recorded over 100,000 (Civil and USAF) wildlife strikes between 1990 and 2008.
  • 92% of the bird strikes occur at or below 3,000 ft AGL (above ground level).
  • 72% of bird-remains have not be identified to species level.
  • The Space Shuttle Discovery hit a turkey vulture during the take off of STS-114 on July 26, 2005.

States with the most reported bird strikes

California 7,557
Texas 6,160
Florida 5,700
New York 4,905

Reports on Wildlife Strikes to Aircraft

 Wildlife Strikes to Civil Aircraft in the United States (1990 - 2008) - A Comprehensive Report on Wildlife Strikes to Aircraft.

Some Significant Wildlife Strikes to Civil Aircraft in the United States (1990 - 2009) - US Department of Agriculture U.S. Department of Agriculture/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service/Wildlife Services.

Valuable Links

The Internet Bird Collection - Bird Photo Database

The Feather Atlas - National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory Feather Database

Smithsonian Institution's Feather Lab - Identification of Bird Species from Strike Remains

Search Database

Last Update:

Have a suggestion? Please submit your suggestions to the project lead: Ryan King