Picnics at Montreal park risk hungry birds colliding with planes: airport | 24CA News
The Montreal Trudeau International Airport is cracking down on picnickers at its plane-spotting park, fearing hungry birds will collide with touchdown or departing plane.
Montreal’s foremost airport is the one one in Canada with its personal commentary park, Anne-Sophie Hamel, spokesperson for the airport, mentioned Monday. But Jacques-de-Lesseps Park has develop into a sufferer of its recognition, she added.
To the dismay of airport authorities and plane-spotting hobbyists, an growing variety of folks have began holding picnics on the park, that are strictly prohibited as a result of they’ll entice birds.
“With this growing popularity, we’re noticing some behaviour that could be dangerous for us,” Hamel mentioned in an interview.
The airport has launched a marketing campaign — putting in signage and posting on social media — explaining how harmful picnics might be. Special constables with Airport Patrol, who can distribute fines, have additionally elevated surveillance.
“Not everyone is able to make the link between having food and what we call bird strikes — the risk of a collision between an airplane and a bird,” she mentioned.
Hamel mentioned the chance of chicken strikes is critical, explaining that in 2009, a US Airways flight was famously compelled to make an emergency touchdown in New York’s Hudson River after each of its engines have been disabled by chicken strikes.
The danger from birds is highest throughout takeoff and touchdown, Hamel mentioned, which makes the park’s location alongside the runway significantly harmful for chicken strikes.
“It’s really an issue of safety; unfortunately, there have been a number of cases in recent years where there have been impacts between airplanes and birds that have been really tragic and even fatal in some cases,” she mentioned.
Bird strikes have been linked to a number of crashes in Canada, together with a 2020 collision that killed a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Snowbirds demonstration group. In April, a Flair Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 was compelled to return to the Calgary airport after a number of chicken strikes.
Hamel mentioned the airport has seen an enchancment for the reason that marketing campaign started earlier this spring, however she warned that if the state of affairs worsens, the airport would contemplate closing the park.
“If the park eventually becomes a danger, one of the measures that could be put in place to mitigate that risk would be, unfortunately, to close it,” she mentioned.
At the park on Sunday, some folks didn’t appear to grasp the rule.
Jeremy Cameron, who was on a date, mentioned the park is a good spot for a picnic.
“No one abuses the park, I’ve seen people always be respectful here, so I don’t see the problem with eating,” he mentioned. “There’s some trash cans around. I don’t see anything on the ground, just some families and couples watching the planes take off.”
Claude Gravel, who was watching the planes depart, mentioned the rule is smart.
“I think it’s the right thing to do, it’s a matter of security,” he mentioned.
Gravel, who mentioned he often visits the park each different weekend, mentioned that new indicators are an enchancment over the park’s earlier signage.
“There’s too many people coming in the park and leaving their McDonald’s bags and stuff, and all this attracts birds — a bird sees McDonald’s, he goes for it, just like we do,” he mentioned.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
