Harris hawks show perching aircraft how to land

This is the claim from a team of researchers at Oxford University who found that hawks control their flight to ensure the safest landing conditions when perching, even if it takes longer and more energy to do so. Understanding how birds optimise their landing manoeuvres through learning could inform future aeronautical platforms. The team’s findings are published in Nature.

In their research, four Harris’ hawks wearing retroreflective markers were tracked flying back and forth between two perches. Their precise movements were recorded by 20 motion capture cameras positioned around the room, allowing the research team to reconstruct their flight paths on over 1,500 flights. The research team then used computer simulations to understand why the birds chose their path to the perch.

Aircraft have a runway for braking after landing but birds must brake before they arrive at the perch and slowing down to a safe speed while in flight risks stall, leading to a sudden loss of flight control. The researchers discovered that the hawks follow a flight path that slows them down to a safe speed but minimises the distance from the perch at which they stall.