Everything you need to know about aircraft colliding with drones in one chart

In the name of airspace safety, the FAA recently announced new rules requiring operators of drones weighing more than 250 grams to register their aircraft. But do these small drones really pose a risk to traditional aviation?

The FAA’s Wildlife Strike Database has data on more than 162,000 wildlife collisions since 1990. Most of the strikes are, naturally, with birds—everything from swans to hummingbirds. But some are with mammals and reptiles, as the chart below shows.

If US aircraft are colliding with turtles more than they are colliding with drones, do we really need to register children’s toys with the federal government?

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— Eli Dourado (@elidourado) December 17, 2015