From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:
CINCINNATI––General Electric Aircraft Engines pub-
licist Jim Stump recently contacted ANIMAL PEOPLE to set the
record straight about the methodology of bird-strike testing, the
subject of letter campaigns by various groups based on somewhat
garbled accounts in a variety of newspapers and trade publications.
The first misconception of the letter-writers, Stump
pointed out, is that GE is at liberty to halt the testing. “Bird-strike
testing is conducted, with other often rigorous testing, during the
development of a new engine,” he explained, “in accordance with
requirements established by agencies such as the U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation
Organization. Flight safety is a primary objective, but some of the
testing relates to such matters as reducing noise and emissions.”
While the regulatory agencies still require some bird-
strike testing, GE favors the principles of reduction, refinement,
and replacement, Stump indicated. “GE Aircraft Engines pays
$15,000 annually to support and participate, with other manufac-
turers and agencies associated with the aviation industry, in the
International Bird Strike Research Group,” he wrote, “which is
trying to develop artificial birds that will be universally acceptable
for use in engine testing. Under the auspices of the Group, the
actual research on critical areas such as body density is being con-
ducted by the Central Science Laboratory, an executive agency of
Great Britain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food.”
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