Key Factors Assessment on Bird Strike Density Distribution in Airport Habitats: Spatial Heterogeneity and Geographically Weighted Regression Model

Abstract

Although the factors influencing bird strikes have been studied extensively, few works focused on the spatial variations in bird strikes affected by factors due to the difference in the geographical environment around the airport. In this paper, the bird strike density distribution of different seasons affected by factors in a rectangular region of 800 square kilometers centered on the Xi’an Airport runway was investigated based on collected bird strike data. The ordinary least square (OLS) model was used to analyze the global effects of different factors, and the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model was used to analyze the spatial variations in the factors of bird strike density. The results showed that key factors on the kernel density of bird strikes showed evident spatial heterogeneity and the seasonal difference in the different habitats. Based on the results of the study, airport managers are provided with some specific defense measures to reduce the number of bird strikes from the two aspects of expelling birds on the airfield area and reducing the attractiveness of habitats outside the airport to birds, so that achieve the sustainable and safe development of civil aviation and the ecological environment.