Bird Strike Hazard at RNO

The bad news is that as long as there are birds, there will be a bird strike hazard whenever you fly in an airplane. The good news for those of us flying in and out of Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) is that the danger here is pretty low. Bird strikes do occur, but they are few and almost always small birds. However, potential trouble flies around the Truckee Meadows every day in the form of Canada geese. These birds are believed to be the cause of the recent incident where a US Airways jet lost power and had to put down in the Hudson River.

To keep geese away from the airport, RNO long ago instituted a scorched earth policy regarding vegetation they find attractive. For example, you will find nothing green anywhere near the runways - medians between the concrete strips are filled with crushed rock, not grass. There is also a program to keep the overall Truckee Meadows goose population under control by periodically capturing and moving birds to remote areas of Nevada. The overall safety strategy being employed at RNO appears to be working well. Over the years, serious safety incidents have been rare, and I found no mention of birds being the direct cause of any crashes. The last airliner disaster at RNO was in 1985, and it did not involve birds.

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