Red Bull Air Race explores high-tech solutions while Arch talks about his pelican encounter
WINDSOR, Ontario – Trying to prevent bird strikes like the one that punched a hole in the horizontal stabiliser of Hannes Arch’s plane was a hot topic of conversation in Windsor on Friday ahead of the third round of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship at the weekend. Arch, who managed to fly his damaged plane in San Diego without problem and salvaged third place, said he would have pulled out if he knew the extent of the damage. Jim DiMatteo, race director in San Diego, said the Red Bull Air Race is exploring the use of cutting-edge technology to keep birds away as it is being developed worldwide.
“Birds in aviation are a challenge and they’ll forever be a challenge,” said DiMatteo. “We’re doing everything we can to minimise the risk of a bird strike. We have people on the course looking out for birds, we have outside stewards and Air Gators all on the lookout for birds. We also bring the helicopter through the course to scare away the birds. But whereever you have water you tend to have birds.”
DiMatteo said the Red Bull Air Race even takes into account bird migratory patterns when picking locations – and avoid areas popular with birds when setting up tracks. “As a whole, we’re looking at the more advanced research going on. Every airport in the world has the same challenge. We’re in contact with those working on the most advanced systems with the most advanced techniques and seeing if we can implement those things on the course.”
He said there would not be anything deployed that could harm the birds. “Big airports are involved in trying to develop those technologies yet are also mindful of protecting the birds. It’s not just ‘Let’s throw out some frequencies that makes all the birds have migraines and fly away’. That’s not the right response. There are a lot of people trying to figure out this situation and we can piggy back on those efforts, those technological developments are out there.” DiMatteo added pilot briefings include warnings of birds. “One of the lessons learned is: if you’re flying through the course and something doesn’t sound right, just stop. Figure out what happened. We’ve reiterated that. If I see something as race director, I’ll pull them out. But if I don’t see something and you see or hear something, come out.”
Arch, who was in the lead before the bird strike, said bad luck cost him the victory. The championship leader said he realises he had good luck that the bird strike did not cause more serious problems. “The last run is the run you give everything. After 15 seconds you get this big bang. It’s like you crash your car into a wall. It’s really loud. Immediately you know something is going on. You think about the engine but the engine is still running fine and the next pylon shows up. The plane is flying so you just continue. It’s hard to finish the race with all those questions in your mind. The one side says ‘Stop, because there’s something serious going on’ but the other side says ’Well, the plane is still flying so why shouldn’t I continue to fly?’ Arch added: “If I had known what happened I would have pulled up immediately.”
Britain’s Paul Bonhomme, who suffered a bird strike in training in London last year and aborted his run, said he thought Arch should have stopped after the bird strike but paid a compliment to his rival: “I must admit he did well considering he had just collected a pelican weighing 5 kg.” He added: “He explained to me the bang he heard. I would like to think I wouldn’t have carried on. I’d like to think I would have the mental capacity to say ‘That is not what I’m supposed to hear at this stage of the track’ and pull out.”
Thanks to www.redbullairrace.com for this article.
