These ‘bullets’ are airports’ bane

Flocks of them brought down a Lockheed Electra during takeoff in Boston in 1960 and a Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules cargo plane in the Netherlands in 1996. Combined, the crashes killed more than 100 people.

Starlings also fly above Los Angeles International Airport, a major concern of biologist Todd Pitlik, who works for the US Department of Agriculture. His job is to control the wildlife populations at LAX, where more than 940 animal strikes involving commercial aircraft were reported between 1990 and 2008. About 4 percent of the collisions caused substantial damage to engines, wings, and fuselages.

Pitlik’s work isn’t easy. The airport’s 3,500 acres just east of the Pacific Ocean contain a menagerie of birds and small mammals that inhabit the drainage ditches, trees, dunes, and grassy flats that surround the four runways.

Red foxes dash across the tarmac. Kestrels hover along the final approaches. Sea gulls rummage for scraps of food while red-tailed hawks and peregrine falcons dive for live prey. One year, young pelicans that had eaten toxic algae and fish were dropping on the runways.

“Wildlife situations can be unpredictable and potentially dangerous,’’ said Pitlik, 46, who has worked at LAX since the late 1990s. “It is important to minimize the risk and liability, but it’s also important to take care of the wildlife.’’

Pitlik is part of a federal Department of Agriculture program that provided wildlife management services and training at more than 1,300 airports last year. He is one of seven department biologists in California who work at military and civilian aviation facilities.

Nationally, there were 112,387 reports of aircraft striking birds, mammals, and reptiles at 2,008 airports from 1990 to 2008, according the FAA. The collisions caused an estimated $725 million in damage last year to commercial, military, and private craft.

To deal with the problem at LAX, the nation’s third-busiest airport, Pitlik has placed traps for birds in the open spaces, including 6-foot-high metal cages that capture starlings.

Wood and screen boxes with collapsible roofs catch kestrels, hawks, and falcons. For bait, he uses pet food and live pigeons in enclosures that shield them from injury. Traps for mammals, including raccoons, rabbits, foxes, and feral cats, are set as needed; most animals captured are euthanized.

To scare birds and animals away from taxiways and runways, Pitlik regularly uses a small pistol that shoots noisy firecrackers into the air. The devices either explode with a bang or make a whistling or screaming sound.

Pitlik’s management plan includes the removal of habitat and food sources that attract wildlife to airport grounds. Grassy fields and other vegetation are cut back to remove cover and nesting areas. Pest control is called in occasionally to eliminate rodents and insects hunted by birds of prey.

Red-tailed hawks can be a threat to aircraft because they weigh 2 to 4 pounds, have large wing spans, and can carry almost their weight in food. Kestrels, the smallest and most common falcon in North America, are a lesser danger, but they have one of the highest casualty rates at LAX, especially in June and July when they teach their young to hunt. The technique involves hovering over their prey at altitudes of up to 65 feet. They also can become alarmed and fly directly into aircraft.

“They get in the wrong place at the wrong time,’’ Pitlik said.

Pitlik has combined his fieldwork with a community outreach program to reduce the presence of birds at restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, catering services, and other businesses in and around the airport. The companies are advised to remove trash promptly, cover garbage cans, trim vegetation, monitor roof tops, and install netting or spikes to deter birds from roosting or nesting.

Since 2000, the list of airports with the greatest number of serious incidents is led by New York’s John F. Kennedy International, with 30, and Sacramento International with 28. Los Angeles was tied for ninth place with 16.