Perth Airport has been rated the worst in Australia in a surprising category.
According to data released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Perth aerodrome has recorded the most turtle strikes with aircrafts over the past 10 years.
It accounted for five turtle deaths — two on a taxiway and three on a runway — more than the three other airports that recorded turtle strikes combined.
One was struck while a plane was landing and two while a plane was taxiing. The two other casualties were found by safety officers during runway inspections.
They were part of 22 animal strikes recorded at Perth, which also included rabbits, bandicoots and foxes.
In comparison, Perth recorded 433 birdstrikes from January 1, 2014, to March 31, 2024, putting it at the 10th worst in Australia.
There were 149 birdstrikes at Broome Aerodrome, 146 at Karratha, 100 at Port Hedland, 84 at Jandakot, 78 at Kununurra, 62 at Newman and 53 at Busselton.
The aerodrome with the most recorded birdstrikes in Australia was Brisbane with 1063.
Only a handful of strikes recorded at Perth involved birds being sucked into engines.
The most recent incident recorded was at 2.24am on March 20 when a welcome swallow struck a commercial aircraft during take-off.
Bird strikes forced planes to return to Perth after take-off in 2022 and 2023.
Several incidents involved aircraft striking multiple red-tailed black cockatoos during take-offs and landings.
The bird species most involved in strikes was the nankeen kestrel (48), followed by the welcome swallow (34).
The data was revealed in a new ATSB interactive tool that has details of all wildlife strikes reported over the past 10 years.
“Wildlife strikes — particularly bird strikes — represent around a third of the 5500 aviation occurrences reported to the ATSB each year,” chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said.
“While the vast majority of these do not result in any injury to flight crew or passengers, they are a potential safety risk and present a significant economic cost for aerodrome and aircraft operators.”
A Perth Airport spokesperson said it had a “comprehensive” wildlife hazard management plan to manage bird strikes, which were regarded as the highest risk to aircraft in flight.
A professional ornithologist was used to monitor wildlife both on and off the estate, food sources and flora that were attractive to high-risk species were removed, and flares and audible deterrents were used to deter birds from the airfield.
Only 0.2 strikes were reported per 10,000 aircraft movements in the previous financial year.
“We are also heavily engaged with communities through the Bird and Animal Hazard Management Advisory Committee, where we meet with local adjoining governments to identify trends and emerging risks of wildlife in those areas that may have the potential to impact aviation safety,” the spokesperson said.
“While every effort is made to eliminate the incidents of bird strike, the reality is aircraft and birds sometimes share the same air space.”
Recent bird strikes forced one passenger aircraft to return to Sydney, while another was forced to divert.
Just last month a Royal Flying Doctor Service PC-12 collided with a cow during landing at a remote airstrip in WA’s Pilbara region.
“While these incidents were safely managed by crews and fortunately did not result in any injuries to those on board the aircraft, they serve as recent demonstrations of the hazards wildlife strikes pose to the aviation industry,” Mr Mitchell said.
There were two wildlife strikes in 2022 that resulted in fatalities — a Bell 206 LongRanger crashed after it was hit by a wedgetail eagle in the NSW Hunter Region, and an agricultural spraying aircraft crashed after hitting an Australian bustard near Chinchilla, Queensland.
“These two accidents demonstrate the risk wildlife strikes can pose to light aircraft during private and commercial operations,” Mr Mitchell said.