Travelers’ check: Mice control keeps flights safe at XNA
Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
HIGHFILL ó Employees at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport keep the grass mowed short near the runway because they want to keep mice away.
Mice arenít the problem, though.
Short grass keeps mice away so big birds donít prey. Mice make excellent hawk and owl food.
And hawks and owls wouldnít matter except that they fly and sometimes get in the way of airplanes. The hawks, owls and even sparrows, blackbirds, mourning doves and a whole lot of other unimpressive birds crash into planes.
ì Itís the small birds we tend to hit, î said Kelly Johnson, XNA ís airport director. ì We donít hit ducks or geese. î
The Guru brings this up because thereís so much that goes on behind the scenes at airports that the public rarely considers, including bird duty.
Johnson remembers the 2003 strike of a barn owl, the only time a barn owl has died at the hands of an airplane in Arkansas, according to a database kept by the Federal Aviation Administration.
There is no prettier bird in the world than the barn owl, even if it does eat the poor mice near runways. Few strikes in Arkansas have been as big as the one on Sept. 21 at Little Rock National Airport, Adams Field. A Northwest Airlink jet knocked at least 139 starlings out of the sky that day. Thereís no uglier bird in the world than the starling, but they get some credit because they donít eat innocent mice. An FAA report shows 318 animal strikes by planes in Arkansas since 1990. Most occur between July 1 and Oct. 31.
ì It is a serious issue, î said Travis DeVault, a research scientist with the U. S. Department of Agricultureís National Wildlife Research Center in Sandusky, Ohio. ì Airport managers need to be aware of the wildlife problems at their airport. The solution is often site specific. î XNA, the airport on the range of Benton County, where the deer and the mice play, has an 8-foot fence with three rows of barbed wire on top to keep out many ground animals. The decision a couple of years ago to cut back the tree line to put more distance between the runway and the thicket caused birds to back off.
ì We donít see nearly as many birds sitting on the fence now, î Johnson said.
Still, a deer slipped inside the fence three or four years ago, and airport employees swung open gates so it could run out. They spent two hours chasing out that deer. The mice surely scattered.
Ducks used to bob in a retention pond at XNA, and theyíd cut across the runway to reach another pond. One pond was drained, giving the ducks no reason to fly over the runway. That worked well, too, Johnson said.
DeVault said the key to keeping animals away is paying attention to what interests them.
ì Most experts think the issue of animals is going to get more and more important, î DeVault said. ì There are more geese and deer, and vultures are doing very well. Aircraft are becoming quieter and faster, and that makes all this more important. î
Deer and geese ? No sweat. They donít eat mice.
But vultures doing well ? Mickey wonít be happy.
Robert J. Smithís column about people on the move in Northwest Arkansas appears each Monday. He can be reached at rsmith @ arkansasonline. com.
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