"Geese at local airport a source of concern"

Monday, August 9, 2004 

Geese at local airport a source of concern 
By DANNY HENLEY 
The Hannibal (MO) Courier-Post 


Wildlife which frequents U.S. airports is a growing concern of the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"It's not only rural airports, but large city airports," said John
McCoy, a member of the Hannibal Airport Advisory Board, who earlier this
summer attended the annual meeting of the FAA's Central Region in
Overland Park, Kan. "Bird strikes are the biggest concern."

Thousands of collisions between birds and aircraft occur every year. In
2003, over 4,300 bird strikes were reported by the U.S. Air Force.
Another 5,900-plus bird-plane incidents occurred last year involving
U.S. civil aircraft. Furthermore, it is estimated that 80 percent of
bird strikes to U.S. civil aircraft go unreported.

"Here in Hannibal our big concern is geese. Other airports have problems
with gulls and things like that," said McCoy. "Geese, of course, because
of their size can pose a major concern for small aircraft."

Aviation officials estimate that a 12-pound Canadian goose, struck by a
150-mph aircraft at liftoff, generates the force of a 1,000-pound weight
dropped from a height of 10 feet.

At least one goose-aircraft collision occurred last year at Hannibal
Regional Airport. According to McCoy, that strike caused some "pretty
severe damage to the plane," although it didn't prevent the local pilot
from landing his plane safely.

"There's always close calls and we do see geese on the runway quite
often," said McCoy of the Hannibal airport.

The threat of a pilot encountering geese on the Hannibal runway is no
longer a seasonal concern.

"A lot of the geese now are non-migratory," said McCoy. "They hang
around all summer. This is a growing problem according to the USDA."

It is estimated that the North American non-migratory Canadian goose
population has increased from 1 million birds in 1990 to 3.6 million in
2003.

McCoy is not surprised that geese like hanging around the local airport.

"There is water nearby and geese tend to be grazers. If there's short
grass, which there is between the runway and taxiway, they simply walk
out there and eat bugs and graze," he said. "They just like a wide-open
area and for the most part they're unbothered. There are not a lot of
things going on out there, not a lot of people moving around their
planes. When the occasional plane does come in it poses a hazard."

Steps have been taken to discourage the geese from staying long,
particularly during those times of the year when the goose population
seems to grow at the airport.

"One thing we did last summer, the Department of Conservation brought
out what they call propane cannons, which make a loud noise periodically
and scare the geese away from the runway areas, in particular the
takeoff and touchdown areas," said McCoy.

Unfortunately, the cannons are not a long-term solution.

"The geese tend to get used to them, even though they don't fire on a
real regular schedule," said McCoy. "You can put them out and they'll
work for a month or two. We try and only use them when we see a large
concentration congregating out there."

Other communities take more drastic measures to deal with their bird
problems.

"Some airports resort to actually going out and shooting them, but
that's kind of a last resort kind of a thing," said McCoy. "We don't
want to get into a problem where we have to actually go out and do any
kind of eradication."

A far less harsh method, according to McCoy, is "to make the runway as
unattractive as possible to geese."

"One thing that was brought up was leaving the grass tall out away from
the runway," he said. "Geese tend not to like to congregate where
there's tall grass because they are afraid of predators.

"We are obligated to keep the grass cropped fairly short in between the
runway (and taxiway) and just adjacent to the runways. But out away
(from the runway), in the other areas, maybe we'll just leave it up,
which is what we've been doing anyway because of the cost of keeping it
short."

While geese are the primary concern at Hannibal Regional Airport, other
forms of wildlife also frequent that area.

"Coyotes like to live on airport runways everywhere. The reason being is
they can walk out and are undisturbed for the most part. They love to
eat mice and mice congregate in the grass on the edge of the runway. The
coyotes just use it as a hunting path," said McCoy. "I've seen coyotes
out there. I don't know as it is a major problem because they tend to be
frightened by the (airplane) noise. They don't react the way other
animals do. They actually avoid people, so when a plane comes in to land
they usually make themselves scarce."

Deer, however, are another matter.

"Deer can be a concern. We have seen deer on the airport property, but
so far we haven't had a problem with them, but we'd like to avoid having
one in the future. Usually any problem with a deer is a big problem,"
said McCoy.

Over 600 civil aircraft collisions with deer were reported in the U.S.
between 1990 and 2003.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************