Safety to improve with grant
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 05/27/2009
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The Federal Aviation Administration grant under the U.S. economic stimulus package will give the Purdue University Airport an extra $1.45 million.
“We will be using it to raise the height of the perimeter fence by 2 feet and install a skirt along the bottom of the fence,” said airport director Betty Stansbury.
Purdue’s 527-acre airport includes two runways, an apron area, a system of parallel taxiways, two passenger terminal buildings and hangars. The university’s aviation technology academic program is housed in the same area. Stansbury said the money will help create an environment safe for both people and wildlife.
“We are hoping the money will improve not only the safety of the airport, but any wildlife strike,” said Stansbury. “We don’t have a lot of wildlife strikes here, but the money and the initiative will just enhance the overall safety of the field.”
Stansbury said that only 20 percent of animal strikes are reported, and the last reported strike at Purdue was a bird strike in July 2007.
“It’s important for the airport that pilots tell us,” said Stansbury. “If the strike occurred on or near the airport, the carcass will be a food source and we need to eliminate that.”
Esteban Fernandez-Juricic, assistant professor of biological sciences, is working on light systems used in airplanes.
“Birds are really smart, and they think habitually,” Juricic said.
Although strikes at Purdue have been uncommon, Stansbury said the stimulus money will help prevent any potential danger.