OPINION: Has killing 70,000 birds made airline flights safer in NYC?
Eight years ago on Jan. 15, pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger flew into a flock of large Canada geese, forcing an emergency landing in the Hudson River. Since that day, more than 70,000 birds have been rounded up and killed in an attempt to further prevent destructive bird strikes in the greater New York City area. But the effort may not have had the desired effect.
In 2009, U.S. Airways flight 1549 took off from LaGuardia Airport in Queens, heading toward Charlotte Douglas Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. Shortly after takeoff, however, the aircraft flew through an entire flock of large Canada geese, disabling both engines and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
Unable to make it safely to a runway, Capt. Sullenberger landed the plane on the Hudson River in an event subsequently known as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” which cast the pilot into the national spotlight and was even fictionalized in a 2016 film starring Tom Hanks.
Following the 2009 incident, authorities began a widespread effort to make the flight paths surrounding New York City airports safer by killing a variety of gulls, starlings, geese and other birds in enormous numbers, hoping to prevent further contact with aircraft.