SEATTLE, WA – In the wake of last month’s dramatic landing of U.S. Airways plane in New York City, after the plane reportedly struck a flock of birds and the pilot was forced to ditch the plane in the Hudson River, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport says it’s the first airport in the country to use an avian radar system to track bird movements.

According to airport officials, the three experimental radar systems, mounted on top of the airport office building, “are an important tool for testing and developing best management practices to reduce potentially hazardous bird activity on and near the airport.”

Airport officials said the bird radar is a joint research effort with the University of Illinois using Federal Aviation Administration grant money. The research, the airport says, will “determine how an airport operator can best use this technology as an early-warning-detection system against collisions between aircraft and birds.”

In addition to the near-tragic crash of the U.S. Airways jet last month in New York City, estimated damages to aviation from wildlife strikes exceed $300 million annually, according to Sea-Tac officials.

Sea-Tac airport also said it was the first U.S. airport to hire a full-time biologist in the 1970s, to concentrate on airplane safety and to protect wildlife.

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