Critters

Last weekend, hunting season came to a close here in New South Montucky. As an avid hunter and outdoorsy type of person I have enjoyed my time traipsing around the countryside with my guns in tow. This is also one of my favorite times of the year to fly. I enjoy looking for places to hunt while trying to spot game from my lofty perch.

Sometimes, much to my chagrin, the critters seem to find me.

For example, Cow Town, one of my usual stops has been a virtual goose gathering area. The Cow Town airport is located on top of the hills west of the river, surrounded by crop land on all sides. The open water of the river and the crop residue left in the field from the harvest is a goose magnet. There are about four flocks of geese numbering in the hundreds that I have had to dodge in recent weeks. Each flock sends up recon flights of 15- 20 birds to torment inbound and outbound aircraft.

My first encounter, an early AM arrival, had me lined up for runway 22. At about ¾ mile final the ground began to move. Not me flying over it, the dirt, like waves on a pond on a windy day. Suddenly I realized I was descending on top of and into a couple of recon patrols I had spooked up off of the earthen field below me.

Pulling the control wheel gently toward me and adding a little power, I arrested my descent and sailed above them to a smooth landing.

A few mornings later, departing runway 4, the solitude of the Cow Town morning was disrupted buy the sound of my engines turning avgas into massive amounts of noise. As the takeoff roll began I noticed that my gas guzzling, air breathing machine had launched an entire squadron of geese ahead and to my right.

Their flight path was much like mine. They departed parallel to the runway and began to climb straight out. They must have not been on the radio with the same controllers as me. The lead goose decided to take the squadron into a left hand turn across the runway towards the safety of the river. It was about this time that I became airborne.

As the wheels rose and clunked into the wheel wells I quickly realized that things could get messy in a hurry. Climbing would make an awful mess of blood and feathers so I pushed the nose over and headed down towards the pavement. 8-10 feet looked like a good place to level off. As the airspeed ripped through 120 KTS, it looked like I would pass below the now panicked geese which were scattering in all directions. I goosed (ducked), held my breath, and waited for the worst.

Surprised I had not heard or felt any impacts on the SUV I removed myself from the fetal position and started my turn for a left downwind departure.

I really don’t like encounters with birds any larger than your common robin or jay. Not only do these encounters with our feathered friends raise a pilot’s blood pressure, they can also have costly results as seen here and here.

I think that I like encounters with geese better when I’m the hunter.