Jan. 02--NEW HAVEN -- Things have been just a little too ... wild ... on and around the runways at Tweed New Haven Regional Airport lately, and an unprecedented deer strike by a plane has aviation officials concerned enough to put fences around all areas of the sprawling airport.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, which has long worked with Tweed staff to reduce threats from birds, has increased its efforts there since the Sept. 20 deer strike, in which the deer was the only casualty. The department is using loud, firework-like explosives to scare critters out of thinking it's an acceptable habitat, and even using sharpshooters to selectively remove deer from the property, which straddles the New Haven/East Haven line.
As of mid-December, the USDA had taken 23 deer off airport property in 2012, said James Streeter, a USDA wildlife biologist among staff involved in work to control wildlife at Tweed.
On a recent visit to Tweed, Streeter demonstrated how he fires a percussion load from a pistol to frighten animals away from the south end of the airport's main runway.
In a perfect world, that would be enough. But it isn't always, which is why wildlife technicians such as Streeter sometimes have to remove the deer that manage to find their way into the airport.
The recent deer strike prompted one Federal Aviation Administration staff member to say that when Tweed did the work a few years back to create grassy, turf runway safety areas at both ends of the main runway, "You basically ... opened up the cafeteria for deer to come in and eat your clover on your runway safety area," said Tim Larson, executive director of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority.
Streeter said it had been a few weeks since the last time he saw a deer during one of his visits. A motion-activated camera he installed off the south end of the main runway also has not snapped a deer in some time, he said.
Wildlife strikes are not at all unusual at airports throughout the United States and the world. The Sept. 20 deer strike at Tweed was the 27th of 30 wildlife strikes at the airport through the end of September, according to the FAA wildlife strike database. Most have been birds, beginning with a great horned owl Jan. 2 of last year. Others included ducks, gulls, sparrows, swallows, killdeer, a robin, a grackle, a crow, a pectoral sandpiper, a mourning dove, ospreys on June 1 and June 19, a red-tailed hawk June 12 and a federally-threatened least tern July 24.
Coyotes and wild turkeys also have been seen on Tweed property.
Nor is Tweed alone. The much busier Bradley International Airport had 570 such strikes through the end of September, according to the FAA database. The nation's leader, Denver International Airport, had 4,173 as of the same date.
But the Sept. 20 deer strike at Tweed, in which the deer ended up in at least two pieces some 400 feet apart, according to Tweed's incident report, was like none of the others. It happened at 2:02 p.m. as a Lear Jet owned by Fox Flight of Toronto, Canada, was taking off on what essentially was a medical transport flight with five people on board. Airport Manager Lori Hoffman-Soares, who was outside with Assistant Airport Manager Diane Jackson, saw the Lear Jet cut power and animal debris fly in the air. She told an investigator she saw another animal running into a wooded area west of the main runway.
The captain, Eoin Teevan, reported that the plane was traveling about 100 knots -- about 115 mph -- on the main runway when he saw two deer to the right of the aircraft. The pilot moved the plane to the left and slammed on the brakes to try to avoid them. One deer struck and dented the right wing. It also damaged the right main landing gear and landing light, the report said.
The accident took place just south of the intersection between Tweed's two runways, said Larson.
Since then, Tweed, in consultation with the FAA, has initiated the process to extend a barbed-wire fence currently around much of the airport to go around the entire perimeter, said Larson. Tweed already has obtained the East Haven Town Council's permission for a section of the fence that would run on town property along the former Ora Avenue, but another section of the fence on the East Haven side would cross wetlands and would require approval from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Much of the west side of the airport -- the New Haven side -- already is fenced, except for an area along Dean Street, Larson said. Most of the area that needs attention is on the East Haven side, he said.
Larson said that in conversation with FAA officials, Tweed officials have been told the airport can use discretionary funds for the $1.5 million fence project that previously had been set aside for other projects, which might now have to be delayed. The FAA in a statement would only say that "FAA is currently in discussions with the Tweed New Haven Airport regarding the need to build additional fencing around the perimeter of the airport due to the recent deer strikes."
DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain said the "DEEP understands Tweed's need to implement improved safety measures given issues the airport has been facing with deer on and near runway areas. We are working closely with Tweed so they can finalize plans for safety measures," he said. "Officials at Tweed have discussed with us plans that call for a fence that would protect runway areas and keep deer from reaching those portions of the airport property. Once final plans are submitted to us we will be able to begin the formal review and approval process."
Larson said that when deer have to be taken off airport property, they get donated to the "Hunters for the Hungry" program, a sportsmen's program that works with the Connecticut Food Bank Network to distribute game donations to the poor and needy in Connecticut.
Call Mark Zaretsky at 203-789-5722.
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