MEDIA CONTEST: BASH: taking aim at a real flight risk

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ACC MEDIA CONTEST --  While lions, tigers and bears may conjure up memories of a particular 1939 film, what do horned lark, kestrels and hawks elicit? These are just a few of the pesky critters the 509th Operations Support Squadron is trying to prevent from coming onto the flightline through the Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard program.

The BASH program, which is part of the 509th Civil Engineer Squadron, began in 1975 when a group of experts met to discuss wildlife hazards that had been encountered in the airfield.

"BASH became a full-swing interest item in 1995 after the AWACS crash in Alaska," said Staff Sgt. Jason Burden, 509th Bomb Wing flight safety NCO. Several Canadian geese were ingested by two of the E-3B Sentry engines, which led to the destruction of the Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft and the loss of its twenty-four crew members, he said.

During flying hours, a group of highly-trained professionals from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 509th OSS airfield management/operations and 509th BW flight safety provide the manpower to stave off potential catastrophe and possible loss of assets and life, said Senior Master Sgt. Courtney Davis, 509th OSS airfield manager.

There is a possibility that birds and aircraft will try to occupy the same space, and that's when accidents happen, said Master Sgt. Todd Lewis, 509th OSS deputy airfield manager.

Bird strikes continue to be a prevalent threat, and Whiteman is not exempt from them. The last bird strike occurred here Oct. 2 of last year, when a T-38A Talon's number two engine ingested a two-ounce horned lark before take-off. The mission was aborted, and both pilot and jet returned to the hangar unscathed.

This incident reinforces the fact that take-offs and landings are the most dangerous times to fly, and that even though birds can vary in size from a few ounces to several pounds, the impact can be just as devastating.

"Imagine taking a baseball and hurling it 300- miles per hour at your car or hitting a deer on the highway; you get the point," Sergeant Davis said.

To discourage birds away from the flightline, the team uses two types of controls; active and passive.

"Active control works well for short periods of times," Sergeant Davis said. "But passive control is the most effective approach"

Some deterrent devices used in active control are propane canons, suppressed M-77 rifles, radio controlled aircraft and vehicle bioacoustics, which simulate bird distress calls through a loud speaker that is controlled from within the vehicle.

"We also have 12-gauge shotguns using steel shot and shell-cracker pyrotechnics to harass birds and wildlife," said Keith Donaldson, USDA wildlife specialist. "We have two types of 15 mm pyrotechnics; bangers and screamers, which are launched from small pistols using a cap to fire the accelerant in the pyro, which then launches out to 50 yards and explodes."

Two traps of interest are the Bal-Chatri pole trap, which snares a bird's leg when it attempts to catch a fenced-in rodent, and the Gosh-hawk trap, which confines large birds of prey after they've fallen through a collapsible perch set above baited birds protected by plexi-glass.

The contraptions enabled the team to trap and relocate more than 100 birds of prey from the airfield last year, and were an alternative humane method to prevent the animals from becoming a threat.

Passive controls, on the other hand, consist of removing what the birds find attractive in their environment.

An example of a passive control would be habitat management. The team has worked at moving the tree-line back from the airfield, and has also set up a floating barrier of black plastic balls on a water storage lagoon near the fire training pit.

The birds can't roost nearby, and they can't get to the water source, so they take their search elsewhere, Sergeant Lewis said."We want to make their home a little less homey,"

As the team is learning more about the behavior of birds and how other animals react around aircraft, the technology for the BASH program has had to grow and be modified.

"We are currently awaiting an upgrade of propane canons that would be added to provide complete coverage of the entire runway," Sergeant Davis said. The cost of the canons and the entire cost of the entire program is insignificant when human lives are taken into account, he said.

The noise levels of the BASH program have not been a problem. Base residents might only hear a distant canon being fired, or the blast of a 12-gauge shotgun on a normal duty day.

When there's flying going on, personnel are in the airfield at all times doing the procedures that could last minutes, hours or all day.

The team is keenly aware of birds being more active before dawn and before dusk. Because of this, they routinely perform a bird activity check, which allows them to better prepare for the 120 different species of birds that may pose a threat to aircraft, and determine what type of deterrent devices will be necessary.

"The problem we face is the base is surrounded by farmland of row crops. The birds bed down on one side of the base and fly to the other to water and feed in the mornings, and return at dusk. The runway is between the two" Sergeant Davis said.

The bird and wildlife threat can hardly be eliminated, but the BASH team has made great strides in reducing damage caused by bird strikes. While the air force may list more strikes occurring each year, it's basically due to the aircraft flying a lot more, Sergeant Burden said.

The team hasn't been alone in removing all critters, in fact they are swift to acknowledge assistance from several agencies who have helped them out.

The 509th CES has aided with controlled habitat burns, which are handled by the base fire department to remove the grass and brush that birds and rodents thrive in.

Security forces has helped by alerting the team when wildlife, such as deer and fox have occasionally wandered onto the flightline and then removed the mammals when necessary.

The Missouri National Guard has also pitched in. While on their training missions, they use their capability to notify the team of any wild animals that are lingering around base housing, said sergeant Burden. "It's kind of like calling in an airstrike."

"Our BASH program has been effective because we take pride in assisting to provide in human lives," said sergeant Lewis. "The pilots count on us to do our jobs right."