Myrtle Beach airport has plan in place to limit bird strikes

In Myrtle Beach, there is a program in place at the airport there to do the best they can with clearing birds from the area. However, birds still hit planes occasionally around the Grand Strand.

By: SCNow Staff | SCNow
Published: January 18, 2009

Birds and airplanes share the same airspace, as evidenced by Thursday’s crash of a US Airways plane into the Hudson River following what was reported to have been double bird strikes.

In Myrtle Beach, there is a program in place at the airport to clear birds from the area.

However, birds still hit planes occasionally around the Grand Strand.

At the Myrtle Beach International Airport, Director, Bob Kemp said there have been bird strikes at the facility and that engine damage had been reported as a result of some of the strikes.

“We did a survey here through the Department of Agriculture about a year ago. We have devices, you may have seen them on television, guns, whistles and things like that to scare the birds away. The airfield is checked regularly everyday. It’s checked numerous times everyday,” Kemp said.

“The Air Traffic Controllers up in the tower are watching, and if birds are in the vicinity, if they see them, then they’ll issue a bird alert to the pilots to make sure they watch for them.“

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not require bird strikes to be reported. FAA officials say their database has more than 100,000 records since 1990.

Kemp said the spring and fall bird migration seasons are not a problem at Myrtle Beach International Airport.