In January of 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 suffered a double bird strike upon takeoff from New York City's LaGuardia Airport en route to Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Both of the Airbus A320's jet engines were disabled by the bird strike, and the aircraft was forced to make a water landing on the Hudson River that straddles the New York and New Jersey border.

Because of the heroic efforts of the airplane's Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger and co-piliot Jeff Skiles, all 155 passengers on board escaped with their lives. To prevent bird strikes from causing another disaster (or near disaster), there are several ways to erradicate birds from around airports.

Some of these methods include having hawks patrol the area, shooting loud air cannons to scare the birds, firing shotguns at the birds, and installing various nesting deterrants to the areas surrounding airports (such as synthetic turf). Protecting airplanes while keeping birds alive is a big task for airport officials.