Bentonville Municipal Airport has a Maverick on its team, but unlike the Maverick of “Top Gun” aviation movie fame, this one is no fan of Goose. The Maverick in Bentonville, Arkansas is actually a border collie, and his job is to get rid of the geese on and near airport grounds.
Training dogs to chase birds is just one of the creative ways that wildlife experts work to ensure safety at the nation’s airports. Their tactics range from audio, visual and chemical repellants to habitat modification, physical barriers and population management.
As the FAA’s wildlife strike database shows, plenty of animal species are attracted to the open fields and other features of the airport environment. Even alligators have been known to cause trouble on Florida runways. But the biggest threat is birds flying into the paths of airplanes, the most famous incident being the “Miracle on the Hudson.”