AdamZ
Touchdown! Greaser!
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2005
- Messages
- 14,869
- Location
- Montgomery County PA
- Display Name
Display name:
Adam Zucker
Lee and I attended a CAP Safety down day, Where we basically attened a series of saftey seminars for about 5 hours although some made us want to bang our heads against the well there was one that was particularly good and I wanted so share some info with all of you.
The presentation was on the BASH ( Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard) progam at Dover AFB. The presenter really had some good info. Keep in mind there are apparently three main "flyways" in the US the Atlantic, Central and Pacific. The program concentrated on the Atlanic but I suppose some info can be transferred.
1) The main time of year for strike hazards is between November and April, which time frame is just about upon us.
2) If you have a lot of snow geese in the area you can depend upon them being there pretty much the same time every year.
3) If you have a lot of Canada geese they won't fly south until it gets cold so their migration is temerature based.
4) Birds flying above 500'agl will in fact tend to dive if they sense a collision so the climb to avoid is not a myth. HOWEVER below 500' all bets are off.
5) Birds will fly on days with low clouds ( below the clouds) as they need to eat every day.
6) The birds will fly inland at dusk to overnight and fly to the coast early in the day around dawn. During paricularly cold or cloudy days they will fly from inland to coast a bit later in the day. You can keep this in mind when flight planning.
7) Cape May NJ is perhaps the biggest stop over for migratory birds in the country. Apparently bird watchers from all over the world travel to cape may to watch birds ( near by fields include WWD)
8) Strike hazards occur with all birds from starlings that weigh mere grams to Canda geese that way up to 15lbs
9) If the problem in your area is mostly small birds then encourage your airport to cut the grass at a hight from 5-7 inches the small birds don't like grass that deep. You don't want the grass to be too long becuse that attracts rodents which in turn attract predatory birds such as Eagles However apparenly introducing falcons is good because they eat and discourage the presence of other birds.
10) Make sure your field ( if they will listen) cut grass before it goes to seed as birds feed on the seed and that they plant grass that are not natural see producers such as millet. At Wings they rent the excess land to a farmer who plants corn ugh the geese love the left over corn after harvest.
11) Make sure all drainage basins at the field drain in 24 hrs standing water attracts water fowl. One colder days look for water fowl gulls etc to stand on the paved areas ie runways ramps taxiway, rather than in the grassey areas. Standing water attacts insects which also attract more birds.
12) One of the best bird deterents around airports is a boarder collie
13) If you see birds report it let other pilots or tower know.
Hope you all can use at least some of this or pass it on to your airport I think you can find more detailed info on line just look up the BASH program at Dover AFB
The presentation was on the BASH ( Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard) progam at Dover AFB. The presenter really had some good info. Keep in mind there are apparently three main "flyways" in the US the Atlantic, Central and Pacific. The program concentrated on the Atlanic but I suppose some info can be transferred.
1) The main time of year for strike hazards is between November and April, which time frame is just about upon us.
2) If you have a lot of snow geese in the area you can depend upon them being there pretty much the same time every year.
3) If you have a lot of Canada geese they won't fly south until it gets cold so their migration is temerature based.
4) Birds flying above 500'agl will in fact tend to dive if they sense a collision so the climb to avoid is not a myth. HOWEVER below 500' all bets are off.
5) Birds will fly on days with low clouds ( below the clouds) as they need to eat every day.
6) The birds will fly inland at dusk to overnight and fly to the coast early in the day around dawn. During paricularly cold or cloudy days they will fly from inland to coast a bit later in the day. You can keep this in mind when flight planning.
7) Cape May NJ is perhaps the biggest stop over for migratory birds in the country. Apparently bird watchers from all over the world travel to cape may to watch birds ( near by fields include WWD)
8) Strike hazards occur with all birds from starlings that weigh mere grams to Canda geese that way up to 15lbs
9) If the problem in your area is mostly small birds then encourage your airport to cut the grass at a hight from 5-7 inches the small birds don't like grass that deep. You don't want the grass to be too long becuse that attracts rodents which in turn attract predatory birds such as Eagles However apparenly introducing falcons is good because they eat and discourage the presence of other birds.
10) Make sure your field ( if they will listen) cut grass before it goes to seed as birds feed on the seed and that they plant grass that are not natural see producers such as millet. At Wings they rent the excess land to a farmer who plants corn ugh the geese love the left over corn after harvest.
11) Make sure all drainage basins at the field drain in 24 hrs standing water attracts water fowl. One colder days look for water fowl gulls etc to stand on the paved areas ie runways ramps taxiway, rather than in the grassey areas. Standing water attacts insects which also attract more birds.
12) One of the best bird deterents around airports is a boarder collie
13) If you see birds report it let other pilots or tower know.
Hope you all can use at least some of this or pass it on to your airport I think you can find more detailed info on line just look up the BASH program at Dover AFB
