Question: What’s going on with all the bird noise at Blue Grass Airport in the area between the runway and the terminal?

Answer: Brian Ellestad, spokesman for Blue Grass Airport, says that the bird sounds are being used at the airport to try and scare birds away from runways and terminal buildings.

The bird sounds are blasted at random intervals and Ellestad wasn’t sure what species of bird sounds are being used.

As we read in this Herald-Leader article dated August 28, 1987, birds can be can cause problems and halt airplane takeoffs at airports:

BIRD CAUGHT IN ENGINE PROMPTED HALT OF TAKEOFF

A bird was the source of a suspicious noise that prompted a Piedmont airline pilot to abort the takeoff of a Boeing 737 at Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport, an airline spokeswoman said yesterday.
“A bird was ingested into the left engine,” Leslie Rowland said from Piedmont headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C. “There was a pop and a flash as the bird was ingested. . . . The pilot pulled back the throttle and went back to the gate.”
The plane never left the ground.
Most of the 30 passengers on Flight 208 left Lexington on another plane three hours behind schedule. The flight originated in Chicago and was bound for Washington, D.C., at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
No one was injured.
There was no damage to the engine, but the plane remained grounded through the night. Piedmont mechanics cleaned the engine yesterday, and the plane left Lexington to continue its regular schedule, Ms. Rowland said.
The jet, which was going 90 mph when the bird was sucked into the engine, could have taken off with just one engine functioning, Ms. Rowland said.
Problems with birds clogging airplane engines aren’t common, but they’re not rare, she said.
Mike Flack, executive director of Blue Grass Airport, said he could not recall any similar incidents in the 3 1/2 years he had been at the airport.

Linda Niemi

Filed under: Uncategorized