There have been 922 aircraft collisions with birds in Hawai'i in the past five years, but no injuries or fatalities to humans, according to Federal Aviation Administration data posted for the first time yesterday.

The bird strikes did cause flight delays and cancellations, and in one case, more than $1 million in damage to a United Airlines Boeing 757 when a barn owl was ingested by a jet engine as the plane was taking off from Lihu'e Airport in May 2005.

The FAA National Wildlife Strike Database shows 286 reports of bird strikes at Honolulu International Airport from 2004 through Nov. 30, 2008, 238 at Lihu'e Airport on Kaua'i, 124 at Maui's Kahului Airport, 110 at Hilo Airport, five at Kona International Airport, and a smattering of incidents at the state's smaller airfields.

Total damage from the incidents was reported at $1.3 million.

Nationally, the FAA list of wildlife strikes details more than 89,000 incidents since 1990, costing 11 people their lives. Most incidents were bird strikes, but deer and other animals have been hit on runways, too.

During that time, there were 2,042 wildlife strikes with civilian and military planes at Hawai'i airports.

Last year, there were 129 bird strikes at Hawai'i airports through Nov. 30, including 42 each at Hono- lulu and Lihu'e, 17 at Kahului, 11 at Hilo and five at Kapalua Airport in West Maui. None were reported at Kona.

The FAA has refused for a decade to adopt a National Transportation Safety Board recommendation to make the reports mandatory. Yesterday's first disclosure of the entire FAA database, including the locations of strikes, occurred largely because of pressure following the ditching of a US Airways jet in the Hudson River on Jan. 15 after bird strikes knocked out both of its engines.

GOLDEN PLOVER MOST HIT

The Pacific golden plover, which favors open, grassy fields, was by far the bird most frequently involved in Hawai'i aircraft collisions, according to the data. The migratory birds collided with planes on at least 275 occasions over the past five years. Barn owls were second, with 94 strikes. Aircraft also stuck three mongooses, two cats and a dog.

Wildlife experts say birds increasingly are finding food and living near cities and airports year round rather than migrating. A study of bird populations around Lihu'e Airport found the aircraft strikes may be related to the island's damp weather, perhaps due to increased seed production along runways during the rainy months.

To manage bird populations at the state's airports, the state Department of Transportation has a $1.5 million annual contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services division.

The FAA database contains strike reports voluntarily reported to the agency by pilots, airlines, airports and others. It's estimated that only about 20 percent of bird strikes are reported.

Topping the list of airports where planes were either substantially damaged or destroyed by birds since 2000 were John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York with at least 30 such accidents, and Sacramento International Airport in California with at least 28.

During that same period, there were only two incidents in Hawai'i of a plane sustaining substantial damage from a bird strike: the May 2005 incident at the Kaua'i airport, and an Oct. 13, 2007, bird strike of an American Airlines Boeing 757 as it was taking off from Honolulu International Airport. That collision resulted in a canceled flight and $60,000 in repairs, according to the FAA database.

CAUTION IN COMPARISONS

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor cautioned "against comparing one airport's bird strike numbers to another airport. If a certain airport is very diligent in reporting these kinds of events, its diligence could make it appear as if it has more bird strikes than an airport that isn't as diligent."

Since 2000, reported bird strikes have resulted in five fatalities and 93 injuries nationally. The cost of repairs during that period was estimated at more than $267 million in inflation-adjusted dollars, but many of the incident reports contained no estimate of the repair cost.

The largest trade association of U.S. airlines hastened to note that bird strikes "are, of course, rare events."

"The vast majority of cases result in little or no aircraft damage," the Air Transport Association of America added.

An overwhelming majority of reported strikes — nearly 16,000 — occurred on approach for landing, the data showed. An additional 20,000 were split nearly evenly among takeoff, landing and climbing.