BASH Group works to reduce bird strikes

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Meredith Hein
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The Bird Animal Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) Working Group at Sheppard Air Force Base has been working constantly to reduce the number of bird and animal strikes by aircraft.

The BASH Working Group includes many base agencies and has been a part of Sheppard for many years, but the addition of Tedd Pepps, wildlife biologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2004 has helped to significantly reduce the number of bird strike threats and associated damages.

Bird strikes are serious business in the Air Force, costing over $3.9 million in damages over the past seven years at Sheppard alone.

"A lot of what we do involves assessing real-time wildlife threats and taking direct measures mitigate those threats. However, we also work to make recommendations to leadership on how to alter wildlife habitats to make the airfield and adjacent locations less attractive to wildlife, so birds don't want to come," said Pepps.

Animals can affect airfield operations in many ways. Birds, especially when flying in large groups, can cause serious damage to planes if hit. Even small birds, such as cliff swallows and horned larks, can cause thousands in damages to aircraft.

"It is so important to protect the lives and safety of our personnel, as well as to protect Air Force assets," said Capt. Benjamin Davidson, 80th Flying Training Wing BASH officer.

Other issues include land animals, such as coyotes, turtles, deer and the occasional wild hog on the airfield, which can cause planes to go off the runway or damage landing gears.

"When a plane is going 100 mph down a runway and loses control because wildlife is in the way, it causes a severe threat to safety," said Davidson.

BASH is a year round operation, but the busiest time for the team is during the spring. It is during this time that many birds stage their northern migration from the airfield, and also when summer resident birds begin to arrive.

"We've especially had issues dealing with the result of the recent drought," said Davidson. "We had low instances of bird strikes at the height of the drought, but the drought has also caused a severe loss of grass on the airfield. This has caused reduced groundcover and increased the density of certain weeds where we fly, attracting birds to exposed insects and seeds."

BASH operations center around passive and active approaches. Passive approaches include educating pilots about real-time wildlife threats, advising controllers on bird hazards, and even altering mowing patterns and picking up road kill to keep potential birds away from food sources.

"We want to be proactive, not reactive," said Pepps. "We take an investigative approach to find out what the birds are eating and what their habitat requirements are to prevent those food sources and habitats from flourishing here."

Active approaches include both lethal and nonlethal approaches, including the trapping, banding and translocation of raptor species during the fall and winter. This is part of a national banding program, led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to determine the effectiveness of relocating raptors away from airports.

"A single bird can take out an entire engine--even a very small bird," said Davidson. "This year, a 1.5 oz. bird caused $60,000 worth of damage to one airplane. In fact, a total of six strikes from 34.2 oz. of total birds caused over $272,000 in damages."

The last plane from Sheppard to be lost to a bird strike was in 1985. The pilot was able to safely eject, but the cause of the accident was found to be brown headed cowbirds--a bird that weighs only 1.7 oz. Since that time, BASH efforts have been able to reduce bird strikes associated with this and other bird species through targeted approaches.

Affects can go beyond the actual bird strike, however. "One of the important safety items in regards to BASH is how the pilot reacts to a bird strike or near miss," said Pepps. "Sometimes, there is no damage to the aircraft from a strike, but the pilot's response to the event can lead to dangerous scenarios, such as a high-speed abort."

The BASH Group has been working to prevent bird-friendly habitats from developing at Sheppard, going so far as altering topography on the airfield to remove standing water, removing beaver dams which provide a sanctuary for water fowl, and developing action plans to selectively target weeds which act as food sources for birds.

"Some of our bird strike issues originate from off-base locations, but we have a good relationship with Wichita Falls and local landowners, so we are often able to effectively treat the problem at its source," said Pepps. "Our BASH Program reaches far beyond the boundaries of Sheppard and is more dynamic than merely chasing birds off the airfield. It is through this integrated approach that we can truly mitigate the threat of wildlife strikes to aircraft."