Airport birds set to increase

Press, 26 July 1989, Page 17

Airport birds set to increase

IN SYDNEY

Judy O' Connor

Creation of a huge “pond” on one side of Sydney Airport’s future extra runway could make bird strike problems worse, authorities say, but filling the water in area could create more problems than it solves. The new runway will extend at length into Botany Bay. Authorities have expressed alarm that this water passage will seriously threaten aircraft safety by attracting many more birds. They have called for the “pond” to be filled in. But the cost of doing that could create major financial and electoral problems for the Government, especially since environmental groups would be vocal about the impact of changing the terrain so much. In a recent report, Australia’s Civil Aviation Authority revealed that bird strikes are a growing and dangerous problem at the airport Since 1980, when there were only 27 strikes, the figure increased to 70 strikes in 1988. .It seems there has been a string of major bird strike incidents at Sydney Airport over the last 10 years that have not come to the attention of the press before. In 1969, a Boeing 707 overran the runway after aborting takeoff following a collision with seagulls. The aircraft was badly damaged. In 1970, a DC9 returned to the airport after seagulls badly damaged'one engine at 150 feet. In 1973, a Qantas 747 carrying 350 people dumped 62,000 kg of fuel and returned to the airport after gulls hit all four engines. One engine shut down immediately, and if another had failed, the aircraft would have rolled “probably with the loss of all on board,” according to the Civil Aviation report. In 1985, a Lear jet had to make a forced landing at night without power after gulls hit both engines on final approach. And in 1988, a Qantas 747 hit gulls which “substantially damaged” one engine. Fuel was dumped before a safe landing was made. It seems airport staff have tried everything. They have

trained falcons to scare off the birds, used radio-controlled model planes, and even burned chilli leaves to get rid of the feathery creatures. Now they simply use a man with a gun. The chief nuisance is seagulls, with flocks of up to 500 being common. It seems gulls like to stay close to shore in wet weather, and this is when they cluster around the airport, causing problems. Airport safety officers do not shoot the birds, although they carry shotguns to kill injured ones. They shoot firecrackers into the air which then explode, scaring the birds away. Some airport authorities believe seagulls can be trained to stay away from the runway. Other birds, such as plover, are not so flexible in changing their habits. Sydney also has galahs, sandpipers, ibis, ducks, cormorants and pelicans. One wet week-end, airport officers fired 1100 shots of firecracker shells into the air. Falcon handlers had flown in from England to catch falcons from the Australian bush and train them for the job. The only trouble was that falcons refused to fly in bad weather, or at night, when they were needed most; the scheme was abandoned. Other methods have also been tried out but found unsatisfactory.