Maybe if airports go to the dogs, they'll solve bird problem

Looks like the kamikaze birds that played chicken with the USAir flight last week have ruffled a few feathers. According to an AP wire story, a number of airports, including Chicago O'Hare, will be testing a new radar system to track flocks of birds flying into the path of airplanes taking off and landing.

I don't quite understand the purpose. We already know birds are always flying in the airport's no-fly zone. The FAA has been dealing with 'fowl' play around airports since the days of open cockpits. We don't need to count them. We need to clip their wings.

The problem is two-fold. Airports are often located near natural wildlife areas and make ideal nesting places for small animals, which become small feasts for large birds.

Many of these wildlife areas are also in the direct migratory paths. So when birds fly south for the winter and end up on a collision course with a Boeing jet engine, they become grounded in more ways than one. And at times the engine gets so fired up it cooks its own goose as well.

Back in 2006, a USAir flight crew approaching the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport thought its landing would be duck soup. Turned out it was. Literally. A large aquatic bird played chicken with one of the engines. The bird lost. So did the aircraft. The engine caught on fire and the duck became pate. Luckily, the pilot was still able to land the aircraft and no one was hurt.

During the late 1990s, a TWA aircraft taking off from the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, met a similar fate. A bird straying from a nearby garbage dump, took on the engine of a Boeing 767. The bird was on fire and so was the engine. The plane had to return to the airport for plucking.

Over the years, the airports have tried to solve the bird problems in a number of ways. Sirens, scarecrows and rockets temporarily scatter a flock. But soon they become desensitized.

Wilfred Emonts, a Canadian inventor, created Robofalcon, a mechanical bird with a 7-foot wing span. He believes it will scare off any size bird. But since Canada geese have no fear of a Boeing 747, skeptics say size doesn't matter.

During the 1960s, seagulls winging it over both New York's Kennedy and LaGuardia airports caused several feather benders. One wildlife manager thought he had the solution. They would seed Long Island Sound with shellfish. The shellfish would attract the birds away from the airports. Problem solved. Turned out be a bird-brained idea. The seagulls were attracted to the shellfish all right. But they discovered the airport runways were the perfect places to crack open the hard shells.

Southwest Florida International Airport near Fort Myers used to suffer several bird strikes annually. The marshy land surrounding the airport was a natural habitat for nesting and migratory birds. The airport tried rockets and sirens with little success. About nine years ago, they found the solution. It required working like a dog -- a border collie to be exact. Their first canine was Jet. The dog herded the birds away from the runways. Since dogs have patrolled the airport, bird strikes have disappeared. The program has been a howling success.

That brings us back to the beginning of this story. Instead of simply tracking birds that might cause potential harm, maybe the airports should take a lead from Southwest International Airport and let the runways go to the dogs.

Gail Todd, a free-lance writer,worked as a flight attendant for more than 30years. She can be reached via e-mail at gailtodd@aol.com.