birds and airplanes

[fallenshadowolf]

i go past the airport sometimes and i have notice men with guns around the perimeter and they soot bird that fly into the airport so they don't get into the airplane engines and i thought why, why not use something less harmful like tranquilizers. my father is a bird watcher and so am i and we have notice the birds of prey in the area are being killed off. though it may seem good for other smaller bird it really isn't , grow populations are causing food shortages are causing both birds and other species harm, illness, and death. now all that sounds rehearsed and by an adult but i am a14 year old seeing a big problem in the close future. you see less that 300 people have died from birds flying into engines that are non-military (the military fly low and hit more birds closer to the ground)
so please if you had the patience to read this tell me what you think.

shadow

[pawnee]

I know what you mean, I have family that works at the airport(s) in Canada, and sometimes deer wonder about....luckily no one has hit a deer but the officers do carry guns. One bird friendly option more airports seem to be trying out is the use of falcons to scare away piegions and gulls. I know gulf courses wil have collies or dogs run around to scare off the geese. Maybe you should suggest these options to the airport staff in a letter or call for more information about the program. I would suggest you find a study about the use of falcons or dogs to make it more convincing.

[ChocolateRain]

Wow, I knew birds flying into planes (or through the front windshields) could be extremely dangerous but I didn't know they go so far as to shoot them around the perimeter of an airport. I totally agree with Pawnee though, contact your airport and inform them of the use of falconry to scare away birds. Be sure to educate yourself too! Here's an article I found with some really good information on it:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 177630.DTL

[Kyuubi no yoko]

Also using tranquilizers is dangerous to the birds as well, falconry is the best optioon, though to be honest I am glad they are doing something, I rather not meet my end due to a goose deciding that a je engine was something to run into....

[timber wolf4321]

I like airports and birds.I think they should just let birds fly free other than...BANG!

[Blindseer]

I dont see any problem with it, if they didnt get rid of the birds then there could be serious acidents.

[bslome]

I also agree with Pawnee. airports use falcons and dogs to scare off birds, but shooting one is not very nice!

also I agree that u should write a letter to your airport and suggest that they use other birds and dogs rather than guns!

good luck!

[fallenshadowolf]

thanks all

[Aluriel]

wow,this is interesting.How can the birds cause ,,serious accidents''? A plane is huge compared to their size,and lets say that if a bird flies straight up to the engine,it will become minced meat.I'm asking this because i'm watching air crash investigation on nat.geo and i never saw an accident that has been produced by birds

[Blindseer]

wow,this is interesting.How can the birds cause ,,serious accidents''? A plane is huge compared to their size,and lets say that if a bird flies straight up to the engine,it will become minced meat.I'm asking this because i'm watching air crash investigation on nat.geo and i never saw an accident that has been produced by birds

if a plane hits a bird, it can damage the fuselage, damage the engine, bust out windows, etc.

it has caused many serious accidents and deaths in the past, and coniues to do so, though at a lesser rate.

[Kyuubi no yoko]

A goose can down a large airliner if it gets sucked in the engine, this is nothing like bugs hitting your windshield. If a plane and bird hit there will be serious damage. Even little birds are dangerous.

[WildFire]

I, along with most of us, agree with Pawnee's idea, but until then, they need to keep the birds out. If one really is sucked in a place where it shouldn't be, then it can destroy that part. The speed that an airplane travels and the bird being hit at a high speed makes the bird put on what seems like more weight when being hit which cause it to do a lot more damage than you believe could happen.

[fallenshadowolf]

hi again i have found out some more information.
so here it is.
one of the reasons they shoot the birds is that if they run into an engine it will get jammed but it wont fall there is more than one engine and the pilot would simply turn around and land but the engines themselves can cost up to 1/4 of a million dollars to replace.
now this is where it gets sad in 2001-2003 ,1300-1400 bird where shot and killed a year that's 3 or 4 birds a day.
now the deaths are under 1000 and only 300-400 where none militant (the military fly's low over swamps and nesting grounds and so on.) and these civilian deaths were all caused at high altitudes
which means the plane hit the birds not the birds hit the plane.(once a plane hit some canada geese and the birds went through the windshield.
the air ports claim the use falcons and dogs but sometimes they lie about it.
my father once saw a man shoot a wild pheasant that was not even in the air port but on the other side of the fence so he went to talk to him
my father said: what are you aloud to shoot
and the man answered: anything but whooping cranes
my dad later told me that he didn't belive the man even knew what a whooping crane looked like
but if you are feeling blue about all the shooting i have to say i was down there 3 days ago and i saw them use firecrackers to scare the birds away and my father said that there slowly was less birds being killed every year

thanks for all your feed back so far and i am hoping more people will join in the conversation oh and thanks for taking the time to read what i had to say

[Blindseer]

but a bird hitting an engine can cause it to explode and such due to the velocity of the impact, and tat could bring a plane down. also, a birt hitting the windshield could break the windshield and injure the pilots, causing uncrontrolled flight and an inevitable crash.

[pawnee]

but a bird hitting an engine can cause it to explode and such due to the velocity of the impact, and tat could bring a plane down. also, a birt hitting the windshield could break the windshield and injure the pilots, causing uncrontrolled flight and an inevitable crash.

I think it depends on how big of a bird goes threw the engine....my dad`s friend it a turkey vulture while flying once, it went threw the windsheild and knocked out the pilot.

atleast the airport is changing methods.....there are noise detterents for deer that you can place on your car. maybe they could strap something similiar to planes except it would be for birds.....