MidAmerica Airport To Extend Deer Fence
Officials To Spend $260,000 For Work
Mascoutah, IL (August 18, 2000) -- MidAmerica Airport welcomed human patrons with open arms Wednesday, but the airport's operators decided Thursday to spend $260,000 to protect against unwanted visitors with antlers.
Airport Director Rick Hargrove said a fence is needed to keep out deer that wander back and forth across the runway in search of food.
"This is really a serious problem because you don't want to hit a 150-pound deer with an airplane," Hargrove said. "That kind of collision could easily cause a pilot to lose control of a plane. It could be disastrous."
MidAmerica Airport officials originally deemed that the runways didn't need to be completely surrounded by the eight-foot-tall fencing topped with barbed wire that surrounds three-quarters of the airfield, so the side nearest Silver Creek was left open when the airport was built. But Hargrove said the area around the creek is a haven for wildlife, and the deer population seems to be booming. So it isn't uncommon, he said, to see as many as 10 deer on or around the runways on any given day.
The Federal Aviation Administration recommended the change be made as soon as possible. But Hargrove said airport management is currently making do with alternative methods of keeping deer off the runways and taxiways. They are sending employees to inspect the area at dusk and at night to make sure the runways are clear.
If deer are found, airport spokesman Mike Conner said, employees used one of several methods including:
- Driving emergency vehicles down the runway with their lights and sirens on.
- Firing off remote-controlled LP gas cannons located near the runways.
- Shooting pyrotechnic devices, similar to bottle rockets, from a special pistol over the heads of the deer.
"Wildlife can pose a variety of hazards to aircraft," FAA spokesman Elizabeth Isham-Cory said. "Obviously you don't want anything crossing the runway when pilots are trying to take off and land. Even small birds can cause a plane to crash, so you can imagine the damage a deer could do."
Isham-Cory said the FAA recommended the airport complete its fence after Pan Am signed on to provide passenger service there. "The primary service of the FAA is to protect the public's safety," she said.
On Thursday the St. Clair County Public Building Commission approved $35,000 as the first payment toward the fence. The project is expected to be completed by mid-December.
Information provided by the Belleville News-Democrat
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