Feds to assess wildlife impact at airports

BY THE NUMBERS

Wildlife strikes occur when animals collide with aircraft and result in $600 million in damages to civilian aircraft and $100 million to military aircraft each year in the U.S. In Texas there have been 629 wildlife strikes this year. Wildlife strikes at area airports in 2011:

Lone Star Executive Airport: 1

David Wayne Hooks Airport: 1

Ellington Field: 7

George Bush Intercontinental Airport: 67

Houston Hobby: 77

Source: Federal Aviation Administration.

Fifteen years' worth of a piloting experience for Chad Gauntt was put to the test this summer while he prepared to land his airplane at Lone Star Executive Airport in Conroe.

Gauntt, an attorney in The Woodlands, was returning from a business trip on July 6 when the sound of his twin engine Cessna-310 startled a deer. The deer attempted to dart across the runway in Gauntt's path, but instead bulldozed into the right engine, causing a noticeable impact.

The unexpected collision did not spook Gauntt enough to force a fatal error, and he was able to land safely.

"I was proud of myself. As I was coming in, I saw it out the corner of my eye. It was like everything was moving in slow motion at that point," Gauntt said. "I went through all my options in my head … I was as cool, calm and collective as you would expect a pilot to be."

Gauntt's collision, the first involving wildlife at the airport in 10 years, resulted in $45,000 in damages to the airplane and led airport officials to seek assistance from the federal government in helping to assess wildlife at the airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration estimates airplane collisions with wildlife result in more than $600 million in damages nationwide each year.

Since 1988, more than 219 people have been killed in wildlife-related aviation collisions, the FAA reports.

"We have had a couple of wildlife issues at the airport with the deer incident, and in particular the feral hog population," said Lone Star Director Scott Smith. "Over the last five years, we've trapped more than 1,000 feral hogs. Anybody that knows anything about feral hogs knows they reproduce quickly and abundantly. We want to know the scope of our feral hogs as well as deer and birds."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to conduct a wildlife assessment study at the request of Lone Star airport officials.

The study, which will begin in the new year, will cost around $25,000. Smith said.

Montgomery County Commissioners Court recently voted to fund 10 percent of the study's cost.

"If we would have gone to another avenue outside the USDA, the cost would have been quite a bit more. When I first contacted the USDA about wildlife assessment, I was told that it depends on the scope of the study, but it could cost anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000," Smith said.

The assessment is necessary to help identify what issues the airport might have with wildlife and help develop solutions to alleviate the problems, Smith said.

According to the FAA, the only other wildlife collision occurred in 2001 when a business jet flew into a turkey vulture during takeoff. The airplane, which was forced to make an emergency landing, sustained $96,000 in damages, records show.

Bird collisions account for about 97 percent of wildlife strikes, according to the FAA.

In recent years, the value of such studies was made apparent after a bird strike in 2009 caused a U.S. Airways jetliner to make a crash landing in New York's Hudson River.

In 2009, the USDA conducted about 800 airport wildlife assessments, USDA spokeswoman Carol Bannerman said.

During the study period, which usually last a year, a wildlife biologist with specific airport training, examines what kinds of wildlife are found around an airport, determines what risk they pose on aircraft and explores risk management, Bannerman said

The number of wildlife strikes reported to the FAA has increase steadily each year, from 1,759 in 1990 to 7,516 in 2008. Officials point to expanding wildlife populations, increases in number of aircraft movements and a trend toward faster and quieter aircraft as contributing factors to the increase. There have been 629 wildlife strikes at airports in Texas since January.

"You have the obvious economic cost, but you also have the potential for loss of life," Bannerman said.

Resolving an issue with wildlife at an airport can be done using a variety of methods. What biologists refer to as habitat modification can be something as simple as cutting grass or adding a fence, Bannerman said. There may also be a need for population control depending on the species, she said.

Bannerman said each airport has a unique landscape with unique wildlife. A fence that may keep cattle out at one airport might not be able to keep out coyotes at another airport, she said.

"That's why you need a biologist who understands the animals that are there. By understanding how they live you will know how they move in their habitat and how it can be adjusted," Bannerman said.