August 1, 2023 Tips to Avoid Getting Your Goose Cooked (by blue ice)

The Liberty Gazette

August 1, 2023

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

This week we have a few airline travel tips for you. If you’re over the age of 25, you probably remember the fate of US Airways Flight 1549, the “Miracle on the Hudson.” Hard to believe it’s been fourteen and a half years. And because the dramatic incident was ripe for a movie, most people know the cause of the water landing was Canada geese ingested into both engines of the Airbus A320. 

Birds and airplanes pose a serious risk to each other. This fact has motivated decision-makers at some airports to find creative ways to shoo the fowl away from arriving and departing flight paths. At Reagan National Airport, there’s a cannon set up to automatically fire blanks at various intervals. But we’ve heard tell that the birds can become accustomed to the sound, so it may be less effective than, say, the solution used at Salt Lake City’s major airport, where they let nature take its course. Pigs who live at the airport are well fed and happy rooting around to fill their bellies with more gull eggs. 

At the Lourdes-Pyrenees airport, at the base of the Great Pyrenees Mountains in the southwestern part of France, you might see bright LED screens with pairs of animated cartoonish-looking eyes. The pattern, concentric black circles moving around on a white background, makes raptors avoid the area because it looks to them like an imminent collision. In Bologna, Italy, two hawks keep guard over the airport. Pigeons and other common birds pretty much stay away. But if they do try to venture into airport property, the hawks will take care of them before an airplane does. A drone bird in Debrecen (Hungary), a Border Collie in Bentonville (Arkansas), bird effigies, and lasers are among other inventive tools that have proven successful at keeping our feathered friends and us safe in the air. 

And what do we do about lightning? Wicks. Wicks installed on airplanes draw the lightning bolts to the trailing edges of the wings and tail. When a charge strikes, it slips across the outer skin of the plane and surges to those wicks, being whisked away instantly. Most commercial airliners are hit by lightning at least once a year. It’s basically a non-event.

You remember Ma told you never to eat yellow ice? Well don’t eat blue ice either. You know that liquid will freeze at high altitude because of the temperatures. And you know that the toilets on airliners flush with blue disinfectant. In the event of a leak in the airplane’s sewer system, watch out below – it’s gotta go somewhere – and don’t mistake it for blue popsicles. 

One more. On your boarding pass is a record locator. It’s all about you. Your passenger record includes your flight itineraries, date of birth, contact information, hotel credit card information, passport details, and IP address if you book online. For this reason, a boarding pass is something you should keep in your control and shred when you’re finished with it.

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