Is Panama City's Airport Safe From Bird Strikes?
(panhandleparade.com) From 1998 to 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration reported over 50,000 bird strikes. Aviation authorities say keeping birds off the runway is an everyday occurance.
Pilots go through a special training program called BASH, which stands for Bird Air Strike Hazard, aimed at teaching pilots how to deal with endangered species.
In his ten year career, Curtis McNeil says he’s seen his share of bird strikes and he’s not the only one.
“If you talk to any pilot who has flown in any aircraft of any substantial nature, they will probably tell you they have had a birdstrike or an encounter with a bird,” he says.
In flight, encounters with endangered species are bound to happen. To cope with such incidents, the FAA established the BASH program.
It’s been around for years and is an instrumental tool in reducing bird strikes using up-to-date technology to track birds in order to reduce the number of strikes.
“Each airfield has a team, a BASH team, that goes around and make sure there aren’t any perches in the area or airfield where they would want to land,” says McNeil.
Remote sensors are used to track movements of birds, they also use a feather lab to identify the species.
Panama City Bay County International Airport has its own version of the BASH program. Airport Executive Director Randy Curtis says they work in conjunction with the FAA to ensure everyone’s safety and being so close to the water they can’t take any chances.
“Safety is the top priority, we work on it on a continuous basis,” he told us.
US Airways Flight 1549 had only been in flight for about three minutes before its pilot radioed air traffic controllers reporting a birdstrike. The plane glided into the Hudson River at about 3:30 Thursday afternoon.
McNeil says the he believes the area was filled with a large flock of birds.
The National Transportation and Safety Board is currently investigating Thursday’s crash in New York.
