Posted on 03/01/2006 1:14:25 PM PST by Dashing Dasher
"The primary goal of the transformation is to make wildlife scarce in order to avoid collisions between wildlife and planes at the airport."
Sounds like a good goal to me!
My comments (IN CAPS) and my Bolding - not in original article.
FYI...
I agree. Making the land inhospitable to animals will cause them to go elsewhere. What do the animal rights nuts think.. that's the only trees and land in the entire world those critters can live on? Gimme a break. I do not recall seeing any endangered animals mentioned either.
This is a win/win all around... Saves Property, Human lives, AND the lives of birds which would get struck.
We had a birdstrike today, no damage. But last year, while inside the marker, a bird smacked the FO's window and cracked it right down the middle, by the time they pulled off the runway, it was shattered. Had the window shattered then, he would have been dead and the passenegers in jeopardy. In this case SMF is not moving, so the things near the field that attract birds need to be removed, period. Citing envirowhackism in this saving the birds over an MD-80 full of people on short final, is so typical of a whacko moonbat liberal tree hugger..
That's why I posted it. I heard about this last night and couldn't get over it. Coyotes? Deer? Geese? Ducks? Hello?
How much of an "environmental mess" would an MD80 smacking down short of the runway create?
I was furious about the beginning of the article. The guy no longer lives in this house, no longer farms this land - but thinks we should put his memories above the lives of the people flying in and out of SMF?
Self Centered Enviro-Whacks!
We were taking delivery of a new jet years ago and our POI (FAA inspector)was getting typed in it. In fact, his check ride was the actual first flight in the US. Anyway on short final to 12L, they smacked a goose on the left leading edge right near the root. They got it on the ground and taxied it to the hangar where we were all waiting to see the new bird.(Literally)As he parked we could see something was wrong, but it wasnt until we got closer we saw what happened. The entire leading edge was ruined. Avian remains all over the side of the plane, and a very sheepish FAA driver. Twarnt his fault, though. The wing had to be replaced grounding our brand new bird before it had even been weighed. Had the goose hit the windshield, there would have been a much different result..
People don't realize how much damage they do. That's why I posted some of those pictures. It's an enormous hazard.
I've heard of several deer strikes too - which are deadly. I fly into several fields where we need to do a low pass or two to clear the runway.
Uh, you fly out of Sacramento much, Dash?
This reads like a press release from the Sierra Club.
Rarely SMF, usually Sac Exec, Mather, University, Elk Grove and Rancho.
Can you please adjust the title, it should read...
Clear-cut for takeoff
Citing wildlife and terrorists, the airport wants to destroy more native oaks
I seem to have cut off the word, "takeoff" from the title.
Apologies.
Dash - - You may want to mention that the Sacramento News and Review is to the left of the Sacramento Bee (which is to the left of Pravda).
I didn't think that needed to be said, after you read the article.
But, YES - they are to the left of Castro.
(from http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19950922-0)
Narrative:
Boeing E-3B Sentry 77-0354 was military Boeing 707-derivative, a.o. equipped and AWACS system. The aircraft, operated by the US Air Force 962nd Airborne Air Control Sqn, 3rd Wing, was assigned call-sign Yukla 27 for a 6.2 hr training mission. At 07:43 Yukla 27 was holding short of runway 5, waiting for takeoff, when a Lockheed Hercules departed. This aircraft disturbed a flock of Canada geese. The Yukla 27 crew were not warned about this by the tower controller. At 07:45 they were cleared for takeoff and the throttles were advanced. As the plane rotated for lift-off numerous geese were ingested in the no. 1 and 2 engines resulting in a catastrophic no. 2 engine failure and a stalling no. 1 engine. The crew initiated a slow climbing turn to the left and began to dump fuel. The aircraft attained a maximum altitude of 250 feet before it started to descend. The plane impacted a hilly, wooded area less than a mile from the runway, broke up, exploded and burned.
PROBABLE CAUSE: Ingestion of Canada geese into the no. 1 and 2 engines. Two contributing factors were the fact that the 3rd Wing lacked an aggressive program to detect and deter geese; the preparations for the migration season of the bird hazard reduction working group (BHRWG) were insufficient. An earlier safety agency staff assistance visit (SAV) had misled the 3rd Wing to believe that they were prepared. The second contributing factor was the tower controllers failure to notify Yukla 27 or airfield management that geese were present on the infield.
}:-)4
btt
Did you ever see that video of the F14 vs. bird on takeoff.
The words "Eject Eject Eject" came up pretty quick.
Never seen that. I remember a Reader's Digest story, many years ago, about an F-4 (I think) that took a buzzard right in the face at 450 knots. The backseater ended up having to land the airplane; the pilot lived, but he never flew again and lost an eye.
It's simple physics. A couple of pounds worth of bird slamming into something at an effective speed of several hundred miles an hour is going to do a hell of a lot of damage, and I cannot believe these people are shortsighted enough not to figure that out.
Here's another wicked set of birdstrike pics for you. American Airlines 767 meets bird, and the result was the pilot wound up with half the instrument panel almost in his lap...
http://www.elchineroconcepts.com/B767%20folder/index.htm
}:-)4
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