Birds pose threat to pilot safety at Texas Air Force Base
November 3, 2011, 05:19 pm
Officials at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, are working on a way to combat the problem of an increasing avian threat to pilot safety, according to CBS affiliate KENS San Antonio. The base, which is used extensively for pilot training exercises, is also home to many birds, according to the source, and collisions between birds and planes cause a significant amount of damage.
"We’ve got several million white wing dove living in this region in this area alone," Mike Pacheco, a USDA wildlife biologist, told the source. "That’s one of the biggest impacts we have here."
Randolph AFB has assumed some 1.3 million in bird related damage to airplanes this year, and officials say that the bird pose a serious threat to pilots. Major David Hale told the source that a bird striking an engine or the canopy could be fatal for pilots in the Northrop T-38 Talon jet trainers the base uses to train pilots.
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