The US national airspace is home to almost 10 billion birds, a very large number compared to the number of model aircraft which is estimated at a million or less. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University analyzed the data of bird collisions with full scale aircraft. The article then makes parallels to aeromodeling even taking into account that models have a much shorter flight life cycle due to battery limitations and the fact that models are far more grounded than birds. The research makes some strong conclusions about the unlikelihood of a sUAS strike with a full scale aircraft nullifying many of the exaggerated concerns.

http://mercatus.org/publication/do-consumer-drones-endanger-national-airspace-evidence-wildlife-strike-data





