PubMed · 10105164
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J Rowles. 1990-06-07. Coping with a tragedy.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10105164/
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OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of an aircraft crash near the South of Limburg, the Netherlands, on the perceived physical and psychological health and annoyance of local residents. DESIGN: Controlled, blinded, follow-up questionnaire survey. METHOD: Three months before an aircraft crash occurred, randomly selected local residents and control subjects who lived approximately 20 km from the crash site were asked to complete a health questionnaire. The study was repeated one year after the crash. The aim of the survey was not mentioned in the questionnaire. The questionnaire asked about demographic features, physical health, psychological health and environmental nuisance. In the first survey, 544/926 (59%) questionnaires were successfully returned, and after the disaster this figure was 677/900 (75%). Linear regression modelling was used to check whether or not any differences in outcome were due to confounding demographic variables. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the perceived physical and psychological health of local residents before and after the aircraft crash. A year after the crash, the nuisance level of aircraft noise reported by local residents had markedly increased. Aircraft noise was the major cause of disturbance. More than 1 in 3 residents perceived daily aircraft noise as a nuisance compared with 1 in 6 before the crash. The scores of local inhabitants for annoyance due to aircraft odour and dust doubled after the crash. Compared with control subjects, local inhabitants scored more than 20 times higher for annoyance due to aircraft odour and 40 times higher for annoyance due to dust. The reported nuisance caused by road traffic noise, odour and dust also increased, although to a lesser extent. CONCLUSION: Health was not influenced by the aircraft crash. A year after the crash, there was a strong drop in tolerance of aircraft nuisance. There was also a reduction in the tolerance of comparable nuisance due, for example, to road traffic, although this change was less marked.
So far no national or regional studies have been published in Germany regarding the number of fatal aviation accidents and results of autopsy findings. Therefore, we evaluated all fatal aviation accidents occurring in Lower Saxony from 1979 to 1996. A total of 96 aviation accidents occurred in this period involving 73 aeroplanes. The crashes resulted in the death of 154 people ranging in age from 19 to 68 years. The greatest number of victims in a single crash of an aircraft was (n=7). Other types of fatal accidents were crashes of aircraft and helicopter while on the ground (n=5), hot-air balloons (n=2), parachutes (n=10), hang glider accidents (n=5) and the striking of a bystander by a model airplane. Autopsies were performed on 68 of the 154 victims (44.2%), including 39 of the 73 pilots (53.4%). Some of the autopsies yielded findings relevant to the cause of the accident: gunshot wounds, the presence of alcohol or drugs in blood and preexisting diseases. Our findings emphasize the need for autopsy on all aviation accident victims, especially pilots, as this is the only reliable method to uncover all factors contributing to an accident.
During the 1980s, the exponential growth of laughing gull (Larus atricilla) colonies, from 15 to about 7600 nests in 1990, in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and a correlated increase in the bird-strike rate at nearby John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York City) led to a controversy between wildlife and airport managers over the elimination of the colonies. In this paper, we review data to evaluate if: (1) the colonies have increased the level of risk to the flying public; (2) on-colony population control would reduce the presence of gulls, and subsequently bird strikes, at the airport; and (3) all on-airport management alternatives have been adequately implemented. Since 1979, most (2987, 87%) of the 3444 bird strikes (number of aircraft struck) were actually bird carcasses found near runways (cause of death unknown but assumed to be bird strikes by definition). Of the 457 pilot-reported strikes (mean = 23 +/- 6 aircraft/yr, N = 20 years), 78 (17%) involved laughing gulls. Since a gull-shooting program was initiated on airport property in 1991, over 50,000 adult laughing gulls have been killed and the number of reported bird strikes involving laughing gulls has declined from 6.9 +/- 2.9 (1983-1990) to 2.6 +/- 1.3 (1991-1998) aircraft/yr; nongull reported bird strikes, however, have more than doubled (6.4 +/- 2.6, 1983-1990; 14.9 +/- 5.1, 1991-1998). We found no evidence to indicate that on-colony management would yield a reduction of bird strikes at Kennedy Airport. Dietary and mark-recapture studies suggest that 60%-90% of the laughing gulls collected on-airport were either failed breeders and/or nonbreeding birds. We argue that the Jamaica Bay laughing gull colonies, the only ones in New York State, should not be managed at least until all on-airport management alternatives have been properly implemented and demonstrated to be ineffective at reducing bird strikes, including habitat alterations and increasing the capability of the bird control unit to eliminate bird flocks on-airport using nonlethal bird dispersal techniques. Because the gull-shooting program may be resulting in a nonsustainable regional population of laughing gulls (>30% decline), we also recommend that attempts be made to initiate an experimental colony elsewhere on Long Island to determine if colony relocation is a feasible management option.