CAA: GA News, "Plentiful deer stymie landings and takeoffs at rural California airstrip"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Saturday, October 27, 2001

Plentiful deer stymie landings and takeoffs at rural airstrip


SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) -- A glut of hungry deer are making landings and
takeoffs difficult at a rural airstrip along the north coast. 

A herd of eight deer seem more content than ever to nibble grass along
the edge of the runway at the Sea Ranch airstrip, often blocking the
path of moving planes. 

"It's pretty amazing," said pilot Steve Kaplan. "The deer just stand
there and watch you roll by, or they prance across the runway, oblivious
that something is coming toward them." 

One pilot has his family ring bells along the edge of the
2,600-foot-long runway to scare off the increasingly confident deer as
he taxis for takeoff. 

"It's not the safest thing to do -- having a person in close proximity
with the runway -- but it's better than hitting the deer," said pilot
Mark Gunderson. 

To avoid damage to the plane and injury to the animals, some pilots have
begun to taxi back and forth along the runway to shoo away the brazen
deer. 

The small airstrip in northern Sonoma County is only used by about 10
private planes on even its busiest weekends. 

About 15 deer have been reported killed on California runways by
airplanes in the past 24 years, three of those on the North Coast,
according to the Federal Aviation Administration. 

The Department of Fish and Game plans to send biologists to the airstrip
in the next few weeks to see if the runway can be made safer, according
to David Casady, a biologist at the department.

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