Can the airport radar detects birds?

Question

If yes,

1. What will be appeared on the (radar) screen ?
2. How the airport controller differentiate which one is bird which one is airplane?

Answer 1

A regular radar will not be able to detect a bird as its cross sectional area is too small to reflect back significant amout of rays to b displayed on the radar screen,however,BirdAvert, a modified maritime radar can detect and trigger stationary electronic "falcons" to flap and scream to scare the birds.
A regul;ar 4 pound bird hitting an aircraft at 130 knots,can deliver more than 2 tons of force, concentrated in a small area because
kinetic energy is directly proportional to the mass involved and to the square of the velocity. Double the mass of the object, you double the kinetic energy; double the velocity, you quadruple the kinetic energy.
Unfortunately in the war of aviation safety and commercial benefits, the former always lose out thats why even in the age of stealth and supersonic aircarfts, the issue of bird hit is still at large.

Answer 2

Radar CAN detect birds, the echo off a bird would be very small, about the size of a pixel of "snow" on a t.v. screen. It's not an issue though, cuz they calibrate the radar to "ignore" pings below a certain level. It's safe to do so, cuz a plane is so much larger a signal, that the radar would have to be almost powerless NOT to see it, whereas a bird's signal is so weak, that a slight decrease in radar power (squelch) is all that's needed to clear them from the screen.

Answer 3

radar will reflect back ANYTHING it comes into contact with

the problem with birds are..is that they are to small to distinguish from atmospheric radiation and interference, that most often occurs and plagues radar...if you ever look at a weather radar map online..you'll see that around the radar site..it looks like it's raining above it and no where else (there are returns around the radar site..but not elsewhere)..this is due to some ground interference..and also small disturbances in the air

at airports, the best way to know whether or not there are birds in the vicinity are to have a spotter looking for them, or pilots will usually let tower know if there are birds in bad places

several times i've been on short final, and have come pretty close to a bird(s) and let tower know

they're always grateful

Answer 4

Radar WILL reflect off birds. It shows up just like anything else would - minus an aircraft with a transponder. And that's how ATC tells it apart - a bird isn't generall going to flash a code back at the controller.

Answer 5

Radar can detect birds if their wing span is large enough. It is easy in that birds don't fly nearly as fast and there movement in direction changes. Radars have electronic filters that get rid of ground clutter, slow move items such as birds, and weather.

Radar can also pick up cars on the road, if the conditions are right. Use to pick them up US 95 going north out of Las Vegas. Former PATCO ATC @ Los Angeles Center.

Answer 6

Maybe a flock might be detected by a raday. single bird will not be detected. The radar5 operator can differentiate it from an aircraft because of its size on the screen.

Answer 7

A single bird can't be detected on a radar, but large flocks of birds can.

Answer 8

I am not familiar with the mechanism of radars, but as far as i know, radars only detects large metallic objects so i dont think birds can be detected by the radar.

good luck.

Answer 9

a regular one cant i dont think but ive read that the f-117 has the radar of a seagull and that is stealth but if it has the radar coverage of a seagull than radar must be able to pick up birds

Answer 10

1) they can if they are large flocks, they will appear as 1.
2) usually it's obvious to the controller, the birds have no transponder:) They also tend to move randomly unlike an aircraft, unless it's a flock of geese. The controller can also usually get a visual and verify it is a flock of birds.

Answer 11

yes birds can be seen by radar. there are filtering mechanisms used to block such returns which by the way is something used by stealth aircraft.