[Peetwo]

Slow news week for Ironsider; or something else??

Ref the Oz: 

Kangaroo crashes catch planes on the hop



It’s not only airborne animals that pose a threat to aircraft. In the decade from 2008 to 2017, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau recorded 396 strikes by non-flying wildlife, including 58 by kangaroos.

One of the most recent roo strikes involved a community service flight by a Beech 58 Baron from Inverell to Maitland Airport in NSW on January 14. A pilot and two passengers were on board the plane which overflew the airport before joining the circuit to land.

No kangaroos were spotted during the overfly, but as the aircraft came in to land the pilot noticed a mob of roos to the left of the runway.

One of hem bounded onto the tarmac, striking the Baron’s nose gear.

“The nose gear collapsed, and the aircraft skidded along the runway for approximately 150m,” said the ATSB report.

As the Baron continued down the runway, the pilot shut down the engines and turned the fuel off, then evacuated all occupants through the rear doors when the aircraft came to a stop.

Although no one was hurt, the Baron suffered substantial damage to the nose gear, propellers and lower fuselage.

In response to the incident, the ATSB issued a safety message, highlighting the hazard posed by kangaroos.

“Due to their size and unpredictable behaviour, they pose a serious safety risk for aircraft,” it said. “Pilots should mitigate this risk as best they can by maintaining adequate situational awareness, particularly when operating at regional strips known for significant wildlife hazards.”

Airservices Australia’s enroute supplement for Maitland makes special mention of the roo risk.

Maybe the Oz was scrabbling to find content to fill their Friday aviation pages but the above 'something, nothing' article based on a half-arsed ATSB occurrence report - Kangaroo strike involving a Beech 58 Baron, Maitland Airport, NSW, on 14 January 2020 - seems a little to contrived and almost desperate to be considered as serious aviation safety journalism? Perhaps it was the community service flight connection; or the linked ATSB report that perked Ironsider's interest??

..Kangaroos are among the ground-based animals that are most frequently struck by aircraft, as found in the ATSB report, Australian aviation wildlife strike statistics (AR-2018-035). Due to their size and unpredictable behaviour, they pose a serious safety risk for aircraft. Pilots should mitigate this risk as best they can by maintaining adequate situational awareness, particularly when operating at regional strips known for significant wildlife hazards...

On Twitter Airport safety expert Dan Parsons was also bemused by this article:

Dan Parsons
@danparsons80
Replying to @PAIN_NET1

Is that the whole article or is there more behind a paywall?

---

Replying to
@danparsons80

The article is about 10 paragraphs??

---

@danparsons80

Yeah, and it doesn’t give much information. The headline suggests it was going to look at the issue generally. It would have been good for them to link to the Kempsey court case and appeal.

Curious I asked if he could provide links for the 'Kempsey court case and appeal', to which he did a lot better by providing links to 2 archived blog pieces that he did on the subject; for a very interesting two coffee read here are the links:

1) https://t.co/dX7uzvSMRQ?amp=1 & 2) https://t.co/896V20MWPI?amp=1

Hmm...for some reason my mind drifts back to this:

ScoMo/Mick Mack Govt pork barrels & rorts - Part III



Just a thought but wouldn't you think it would be worthwhile for the ATSB to suggest or recommend that the Govt look at providing funding, under the RAP rorts scheme, for possibly resourcing wildlife controls such as Roo-proof fencing around the perimeter of affected regional airports? -  

MTF...P2