Airport flies idea of bird-shooting bounty

Dunedin airport fire officer Bruce Smaill patrols daily, scaring and shooting birds, in an effort to reduce bird strikes. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Civilian marksmen could be offered a cash bounty to help keep airports safe from deadly bird strikes.

Dunedin International Airport operations manager Richard Roberts says airports are often surrounded by landowners who want to be rid of bird pests as much as the airports do.

"So ... is there anything to stop me going to farmers and putting a bounty on the head of the likes of the spur-winged plover?" Mr Roberts said.

"This is something that needs to be discussed while we look at ways to manage the potential for bird strike. If we do it the right way, might it work?"

Mr Roberts is part of the Civil Aviation Authority-led wildlife hazard committee, which looks at ways to improve bird control and hazard reporting.

When seeking solutions, nothing practical should be left off the table, he said. "We need to look at our airports as being part of a wider area. Who knows, if farmers want to control pest birds as much as we do, then maybe we should be talking."

Strikes are reported by pilots and the information is used to help airports control bird hazards. The most recent CAA figures show Dunedin's 12-month moving average bird strike rate was 4.3 strikes per 100,000 aircraft movements for the March quarter.

That was less than in December (4.5) but still the second-highest moving average in three years.

The CAA considers the rate "low risk". Rates were lower in Queenstown (1.8), Christchurch (1.8), Wellington (1.3) and Auckland (2.4), while the national average was 3.1.

Mr Roberts said months of sometimes wet weather, which made surrounding farmland worm-filled feeding grounds, may have affected the Dunedin strike rate.

Traps, kites in the shape of hawks, distress signals and guns were used to scare birds before aircraft used Dunedin's runway. Worms, which wriggle to high ground after rain, were routinely washed off the bitumen.

Small birds, including spur-winged plovers and starlings, were some of the most frequent visitors to the airport. Jet engines were made to withstand much bigger birds, Mr Roberts said.

Pilots reported what kind of birds struck their aircraft. Airports were lobbying to improve the reporting process to ensure strikes that happened away from the airport were not reported as "on-aerodrome strikes".

CAA spokesman Bill Sommer said airports were responsible for controlling birds, but that the authority was working with them to ensure the reporting process helped their work.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES