A passenger plane collided with birds at the Skagway airport on Friday. The plane landed safely and nobody aboard was hurt.
Everything was normal until the end of the flight. The Cessna Caravan from Alaska Seaplanes was approaching the runway, when the pilot noticed a bird near the wing.
“When they went down to the end of the runway, they found five birds that were killed,” said Andy Kline, the marketing director at Alaska Seaplanes. “It was clear from inspecting them that they hadn’t got into the prop or anything like that.”
Kline says Alaska Seaplanes flew in a mechanic to inspect the aircraft. The mechanic could find no sign of impact or damage on the plane. Kline says the birds most likely got hit by the landing gear.
The plane returned to service and has been flying without issues since the incident.
The Skagway airport is located near the mouth of the Skagway River. In the spring and early summer many birds congregate there, which causes a risk to air traffic. The Alaska Department of Transportation currently uses explosives to scare the birds away from the runway. The practice has recently been criticized by residents who say their dogs are scared by the explosions.
But Kline says the safety concern is justified.
“Bird strikes are a serious potential incident, so it’s something that we are concerned about, and that’s just something that’s part of flying in Southeast Alaska,” he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s wildlife strike database has recorded 58 bird collisions and one involving a coyote in Alaska in the past year.
