The recent accident of a US Airways jet that made an emergency landing in the Hudson river has lead to numerous safety investigations. The plane supposedly lost both engines after flying through a flock of birds. Since the plane could not make it to a nearby airport, pilot Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger landed the plane in the nearby bay. All 155 passengers and crew members made it safely out of the plane.

The threat of birds has been a serious cause of concern for planes since of the beginning of manned flight. Over the past decade, UI professor Edwin Herricks has been working on a tool to address the bird-plane collision problem.

Herricks, a professor of ecological engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), coordinates the Airport Safety Management program for the CEE-based Center of Excellence for Airport Technology. His team has deployed avian radars at major airports around the country. Now Herricks’ research program is moving into the performance assessment phase, addressing issues such as calibration, performance under different environmental conditions, and reliability. A radar at the Naval Air Station at Whidbey Island in Washington State has been operational and collecting data for more than 18 months. A radar at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and a second one at Whidbey Island have been providing data since August 2007.

The ultimate goal is to provide guidance to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) so they can develop procedures that may help pilots, air traffic controllers and wildlife managers avoid a catastrophic bird strike accident. Already, bird strikes cost the aviation industry $1 billion a year, according to Bird Strike Committee USA. But there are few mandates in place to address the issue.

Here’s to another UI innovation

Bird strikes pose a real threat to air safety

The cold is something we’ve come accustomed to in Illinois. But has it seemed colder in the last few years?

Data from Illinois’ Arctic Climate Research Center has proved that global sea-ice has increased at a record rate in the last four months. In fact, the Earth has been cooling for the last six years! Whatever happened to global warming?

Despite dire warnings from global warming alarmists, Daily Tech Online reports global sea ice levels are now equivalent to those seen 29 years ago. Satellite data from the University of Illinois’ Arctic Climate Research Center indicates the rate of global sea-ice increase in the last four months of the year was the fastest rate of change on record.
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Meanwhile, former nuclear scientist and energy expert Michael Fox writes in the Hawaii Reporter that 2008 was “another grim year for the global warmers.”

…another Illinois breakthrough

Fox News – Ice, Ice Baby!