It's a bird. It's a plane. It should be public.

The National Transportation Safety Board took a stance against the Federal Aviation Administration's plans to close data on bird and airplane collisions, the AP reported. In a letter to the FAA, the board wrote, "This lack of information could hamper efforts to understand the nature and potential effects of wildlife threats to aviation and hinder the development of mitigations for those threats."

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he intends to overrule the Federal Aviation Administration on its plan to keep secret data on where and when collisions between birds and airplanes occur.

LaHood told The Washington Post in an interview published Wednesday on its Web site that the public deserves to have access to the information and that the Transportation Department will be making an announcement soon.

Earlier Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board released a letter strongly disagreeing with the FAA's plan.

More here.