BASHing for a living, for aircraft safety

  • Published
  • By Nick Stubbs
  • Thunderbolt Editor
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Many residents of Tampa Bay work hard to attract birds -- adding feeders, watering devices, birdbaths and birdhouses to lure the feathered creatures into their yards. For MacDill's Ryan Meinerz, it's the exact opposite.

An ecologist and MacDill Bird Air Strike Hazard coordinator, Mr. Meinerz's shares a small office with his assistant Porsche, a black and white border collie that lives to chase birds.

They're just a stone's throw from the MacDill runway, which the duo strives to keep as bird-free as possible - a tough job when you consider the area features wide open grassy fields, nearby woods and an abundant water supply -- everything a bird needs to be happy.

Mr. Meinerz's task is to keep the birds unhappy, or perhaps a better word is "disrupted," he said. Break up their routine and make the habitat less inviting, and you are on your way to helping prevent an aircraft bird strike.

While it might seem that a bird weighing just 2 or 3 pounds is no match for a KC-135 Stratotanker and its tons of steel and aluminum, it's more than enough flesh and feathers to create a disaster -- one that could cost the lives of crew and the loss of an aircraft.

"Basically, my job is to reduce the probability that aircraft will conflict with wildlife," said Mr. Meinerz.

While wildlife usually means birds, the BASH job extends to everything from dear and bear that might wander onto the runway, to raccoons and tortoises.

Unlike bears, birds are abundant at MacDill, but bird strikes are a rare occurrence. They do happen, though, and last week there was an incident in which a seagull was killed by a KC-135, Mr. Meinerz said. While it appeared it was caught in the jet wash on the ground rather than being struck by a plane, it nevertheless was investigated and the plane checked for damage.

In that case there was no damage. That wasn't the case Jan. 15, 2009 when a US Airways passenger jet with 155 people aboard crash landed into the Hudson River after a bird strike. All survived, but it could just as easily resulted in 155 casualties, said Mr. Meinerz.

"Bird strikes can be devastating," he said. "There have been many cases in aviation over the years."

Eliminating birds from the MacDill runway area isn't a possibility, he said, but lots can be done to reduce the risk, not the least of which is letting Porsche do her thing. Seagulls, ibis, ducks, egrets and cranes are her primary targets for chase, and she can make them all very uncomfortable, said Mr. Meinerz, who said he prefers not to use traditional tactics like firecrackers, air or propane canons, as the birds get used to them and become immune to the effect.

"There is a predator-prey dynamic with the dog, and that's something the birds can't ignore and they never get used to it," he said. "It's very effective."

Mr. Meinerz and Porsche patrol the area from top to bottom throughout the day, chasing away flocks of birds when they are a threat to takeoffs and landings. All the while he is in contact with the MacDill control tower, advising and being advised about bird or animal sightings near the runway. If a problem exists, pilots in the air or preparing to take off are advised that there is an elevated "B Watch," sometimes delaying flying until the problem is cleared up.

The worst time of the year is between November and February, said Mr. Meinerz. At that time birds are wintering in Florida, increasing the population significantly. Of all the birds, turkey vultures and black vultures are the biggest threats. They are both large species, and they circle in groups at altitudes that endanger planes coming into or leaving MacDill, he said.

"You can't do anything to scare them away when they are flying, because they just ignore everything," Mr. Meinerz said. "You have to get creative."

He did just that shortly after arriving on the job last year. He set out to find where the big scavengers roost during the night, and made their lives miserable. Lighting pyrotechnics to scare them out of their trees and hanging vulture decoys upside down in the area (proven to fool vultures into thinking another vulture is dead) sent the birds on their way to a new roosting area, farther from the base.

"You have short-term harassment and long-term management," said Mr. Meinerz of strategies. "I like to eliminate birds from coming to the area to start with, which is a long-term management solution."

And it's paid off. Incidents of bird strikes and time spent in elevated B Watch conditions is down from some 1,700 minutes the year prior to arriving on the job, to 374 minutes now. And Mr. Meinerz has done it without every having to kill a bird, something he doesn't see as effective.

"You kill a bird and it gets rid of it, but it just creates a void for another bird to fill," he said. "It's not a long-term strategy.

Ongoing the best strategy is to keep working at making the environment around the runway less attractive to birds, Mr. Meinerz said. That means constant maintenance, removing vegetation like cattails, brush and other ground cover, as well as ensuring ditches are dry and the plants and grass growing are not of the type birds eat.

"Everyone works very well together here (at MacDill), from the guys who mow the grass to the environmental team and the base leadership," said Mr. Meinerz. "That kind of cooperation is rare, and it's good that everyone is on board with the same objectives."