I had to smile at reports that three deer had a close encounter with Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter aircraft at RAF Coningsby recently.
Cute, I suppose, but animals on the runways and taxiways can be a real hazard. In flying around Africa for many years, I grew used to pilots of smaller aircraft (from 40-50 seat regional airliners to small 4- or 6-seat puddle-jumpers) having to "buzz" over the runway at very low altitude, to scare off animals grazing or resting there. Larger animals (of which Africa has a gracious plenty) would often be so used to this that they'd ignore the nasty buzzing creatures overhead, and go right on doing whatever they were doing. Only when the pilot was absolutely sure that there were no animals within "hazard range" could he proceed - and even then, a sudden unexpected run by an animal could lead to disaster. It's a not uncommon occurrence.
Miss D. assures me that the same thing has been known to happen in Alaska, where she learned to fly. She says even larger airliners, like Boeing 737's, sometimes have to "clear the runway" at more remote airports in that state before they can touch down. Apparently polar bears regard small aircraft filled with people in the same way that we'd regard a tin filled with delicious chunks of meat. Not a comforting thought, that!
I wonder how a jet fighter pilot in England would react to critters like that on the runway?
Peter
5 comments:
My first personal experience with a low pass to clear the runway was in landing on the island of Saba in the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean. It's the shortest commercial airport in the world. And besides having to get goats off the runway, it gave the passengers a chance to see the big white "X" on each end of the runway as well - good thing we were in a Twin Otter that had STOL abilities. I swear we only traveled about ten feet after touchdown before we were slow enough to taxi to the "terminal". Takeoffs were just as much fun, since once you passed the end of the runway, which was elevated above the ocean, the plane dropped a few feet until it gained enough airspeed to climb out. Shades of prop planes taking off from a carrier's flight deck...
Those are expensive hazards to aircraft, and not even addressing the polar bear issue. A guy I worked with was asked by FedEx to design a low-light "runway hazard" system to install on their cargo aircraft. Fairbanks airport, a key trans-Pacific cargo run stop for refueling, gets moose (1 feisty TON) and other large mobile obstacles on the runway, usually in fog/rain conditions where ground control can't see them. He came up with a neat solution for them. Cost of installing and wiring this to the cockpit and the parasitic weight loss from cargo capacity << cost of replacing landing gear, wing components, engine, maybe an aircraft.
Deer seem to be unable to process vehicles, of any sort, as a potential threat. One would think that a moving object as large as they are, at a minimum, with noise and lights, would get their attention. Nope. Clueless. Ride up to a group standing in the middle of a road, and the ignore you, but climb off your motorcycle so they see the human, and they are gone instantly. They recognize a human.
A guy I knew some years ago said he was driving at night around a curve and saw a herd of deer on the road. Luckily, NOT on the line he took thru the curve.
I was landing a C172 on a rural strip that didn't see much traffic. I could see a few deer on it, and made a low pass to buzz them off. They ran off and a second pass down low confirmed none in sight. I came around the third time and set down and just as the mains took the load with the nose wheel still off the ground, a buck came blowing out of the brush from the left side and crossed my path. He missed the prop by about 10 feet! Happened so fast there wasn't a thing I could do.
Current home strip hosts a number of deer who like to browse at night and I always give a good look in the pattern and on approach. I've had to do more than one go around through the years. Country life! :-)
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