WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to keep secret from travelers its records on how frequently and at what airports commercial planes are damaged by hitting flying birds.

The agency argued that some carriers and airports would stop reporting the incidents for fear the public would misinterpret the data and hold the information against them. The reporting is voluntary.

The FAA's formal secrecy proposal came just after officials had said they were going to release the database to the Associated Press in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

While President Obama promises a more open government, the FAA says it needs to expand secrecy to cover this safety data because if the public learned the information, then airports and air carriers would be reluctant to report damage from birds.

"To have the government actually chill public access to safety information is a step backward," said James Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

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