Posted on 04/26/2012 4:57:20 PM PDT by SJackson
NEW YORK – The problem of birds living near some of the nation's busiest airports is coming under renewed scrutiny after two emergency landings in a week and more than three years after the famous ditching of a jetliner in the Hudson River.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Wednesday proposed making it easier to round up geese from a federal refuge near Kennedy Airport and kill them, an idea that's meeting opposition from wildlife advocates.
A JetBlue plane bound for West Palm Beach, Fla., made an emergency landing at Westchester County Airport north of New York City on Tuesday. A Los Angeles-bound jet made an emergency landing at Kennedy Airport after a bird strike on the right engine a week ago.
No one was hurt, but Grant Cardone, a sales training consultant who was on the flight out of Kennedy and was filming video from his window in seat 1D as the birds hit the plane, said it was scary.
"I felt like the plane was going to roll over on its right side," Cardone said. "Those five or six seconds were terrifying."
Cardone, 54, said he texted his wife that the flight was in trouble and added, "I love you and I love the kids." Afterward, the pilot managed to stabilize the plane and land.
Gillibrand's bill would empower the U.S. Department of Agriculture to remove Canada geese from the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge during June and July when they are molting and can't fly.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Said the animal rights whacko: “The killing just doesn’t work,” she said. “We have to focus on learning to coexist with these birds.”
Says the Guru: In all known cases, dead birds killed in airport avian population reduction programs were never found to be impacting aircraft.
As for coexisting with birds, mankind has, over the centuries, developed numerous and time tested methods of “coexisting” with birds. Recently, the microwave oven has opened new vistas in human-avian coexistence.
Yummers!
“But if he had known early enough, he could have started a gentle pull and missed them easily.”
True, very true.
Also, if pigs could fly, the price of bacon would be sky high.
But, as no man knows in which direction a flock of birds will turn, nor when, I suggest not holding your breath until such a program is written, tested, and validated.
Until then, kill ‘em and eat ‘em.
Border Collies are an excellent choice for scaring the 5hit out of these big birds. Borders can run all day, they’re obedient, they are incredibly smart, and they love to please their owners. These big birds will are far more likely to land if they see other birds there, but if they see borders, they won’t land.
End of problem.
That goose killing liberal biatch, no more PETA money for her. What happened to the raptor program at JFK?
Part of the project was to develop computer models for predicting the effects of bird strikes on aircraft windscreens. That was funded by the Air Force. Our design of windscreens saved quite a few pilots lives.
My part of the project was funded by the FAA. It was in two parts. One involved developing statistical models to predict the likelihood of a bird being sucked into a jet engine, as a function of season, time of day, etc. The other was to develop a model for the likelihood of damage to the engine, as a function of bird weight. We had data available to us on literally hundreds of bird ingestions, world-wide.
That was nearly 20 years ago. I have no idea what the current situation is.
Yea just screw those people who will die by NOT taking care of the problem. I say kill all the geese and be done with it. There are plenty more all over the US and the world.
What an utterly STUPID reply. Yeah, and why don’t we just pave over everything so we won’t attract any birds? That would make it so worthwhile to take a nature hike through the woods to relax. There are other ways to reduce the goose population in a much more humane fashion. You can oil their eggs, which then don’t hatch. You can use border collies to make certain areas not pleasant for the geese. You can cut the grass in certain areas so as not to attract them. Etc. Etc.
Just love black and white “thinkers” like you.
Build this in the sanctuary. It's the perfect politically correct solution.
With respect to the comment that “no man knows in which directin a flock of birds will turn” that isn’t exactly true.
All birds in flight behave in a single manner when scared: the tuck their wings and dive. It isn’t a matter of turning. It is a matter of altitude.
If you can see them, you can miss them. Sully’s co-pilot who was at the controls saw the geese. He could have pulled up rapidly (G on the airplane) and the USAIR flight would have been goose free.
The problem is in seeing the birds soon enough. Having some FAA dude on the ground looking at an area-wide bird radar and then relaying what he sees by voice to applicable pilots won’t work.
“All birds in flight behave in a single manner when scared: the tuck their wings and dive. It isn’t a matter of turning. It is a matter of altitude.”
Agreed, but from flying a Republic RC-3 in Florida where there are all too many buzzards, seagulls beyond number, and other avian pests, I agree with you about bird behavior when collision is at the SPLAT stage.
One flies below the avian pests at the risk of a batch of bird through the plexiglas. However, the flock can, and often will, turn into an approaching plane with no warning.
“Birdbrain” became proverbial for a reason. Hence, I am for hunting avian pests because it works, it brings to those deserving trough feeders in the gubbament hunting fees to keep their trough filled, and it provides small arms opportunities for the citizenry.
Besides, where else can one obtain fowl with bits of shot embedded at random intervals?
;-)
Does’t a sitting US Senator have better things to do?
Howsabout the owner of the damn airport exercising some of their own common sense.....and a 12 gauge.
The F-4 is just a tad bit more maneuverable than a fully loaded commercial passenger jet on takeoff. But you knew that, I hope.
Lets see now. People or birds??? Which will I pick? People win! I think you are a sad individual to pick birds over your fellow man but maybe that’s just me.
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