The FAA has proposed to the government to restrict access to bird strike accident reports. They plan to block all public access for bird collisions like the one that brought down the plane in the Hudson in January. The proposal went virtually unnoticed and is essentially approved. The FAA claims that the goal of this move was to prevent the public from being “mislead” by the data.
They are receiving a lot of what has been described as “sharp criticism.” The Executive Director of the Freedom of the Press committee is flabbergasted that they did not have to report this move to the general public, especially with the risk of bird strikes rising. She says the keeping the data secret is not helping at all.
Still the FAA’s point of view is that protecting the data is voluntary and are not willing to have an inaccurate perception occur.
