While magpies rule the roost swooping cyclists and pedestrians in nesting season, it's a different matter at Orange Regional Airport.
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Figures just released from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau show there have been 39 cases of planes hitting birds at the airport between 2008 and 2017.
Magpies, galahs, sparrows and a magpie lark have been victims of the aerial collisions both from when planes are departing and landing at the airport.
One was at 5500 feet above the ground, but most are when the planes are close to the tarmac.
Council's airport reporting officers use a range of techniques to discourage birds from the area such as horns and alarms.
- Orange City Council spokesman
The ATSB report, released this week, showed there have been 16,626 birdstrikes across Australia with Brisbane airport leading the way with 1139 incidents ahead of Sydney airport on 1073.
In 2017 there were four incidents at Orange airport, two of them collisions with magpies.
Orange City Council spokesman said the incidence at Orange was rare.
"Council's airport reporting officers use a range of techniques to discourage birds from the area such as horns and alarms," he said.
"Officers remove nesting areas and any sources of potential food for birds and alert pilots if they have been spotted in the area."
The 39 cases at Orange are less than Dubbo which had 161 incidents and Bathurst which had 45.
The ATSB report found birdstrikes rarely caused aircraft damage or personal injuries.
MAP: Where is Orange Regional Airport …
No fatalities or serious injuries have been attributed to birdstrikes across the 10 years the data has been collected.
However, it found nine incidents resulted in minor injuries to passengers or pilots.
It also showed the incidences are rising with 1339 in 2008 and 1921 in 2017.
None of the Orange incidents involved non-flying animals.
But other airports have seen planes hit 396 animals on the ground, mainly kangaroos, rabbits, hares, wallabies and foxes.
"The growth of reporting to the ATSB over the last 10 years has helped to understand better the nature of bird strikes, and what and where the major safety risks lie," the report said.
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