European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 23, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday. Sep Lomaur 23, 198g the stars and stripes Page 3 Folk de re her i Zakroff for up Robto Bird strikes he a Nare Ken new. Illp4.d he Calls and. As m s in in Hil Birdman is on the of protecting air Force jets inv i km/1 Tiol Kijja Leno Foj u lil he. Myrlnn i i ill ii 1,-n. I in v,-.n.., l.,. _,.,. A d stall writer a. Netherlands when a Bird and an air Force f-15 fighter Jet collide in might. The result is usually a Messy death for the Bird and damage 10 the aircraft often totalling thousands of dollars. Bird strikes As the accidents Are known Are inevitable As Long As planes and Birds Fly in the same ski. But the frequency of Bird strikes Al Soest Sherg a. Has decreased since sgt. Vlaj. Henk de Kidder of the Netherlands air Force left his Job As a helicopter Mechanic in become the Birdman of Camp new Amsterdam. A Job announcement was posted around the base in 1976 for a person i Gnu Urage Birds from nesting and flying around the runways. Ii seemed perfect for de Ridder. Who began Bird watching at age a and moved on Tum by Bird migration and habits. "1 put in four requests to take the Job hut was de Nied he said. I was mid j was needed too much where i by im79, do Ridder said the Bird problem was had. There were Many Bird he said. Me was familiar with the Bird problem by then because he had signed doing Bird Counis on weekends. For four years his tools were a bicycle and a pair of binoculars. Mean while no one filled the announced position. C amp new Amsterdam finally allowed de Ridder to Trade Bis Mechanic s duties Jar handling the Birds. His Job includes daily Bird counts and scanning the meal Woods checking migration and Breeding patterns of different Birds. He examines Bird remains found on Ilie runway and the f-l5s for tines As to the species and weight of the Bird. And de Ridder always talks to the Pilot after a Bird strike. I ask Liim his Speed Lial happened he said. Very morning around 7 30. Before planes begin taking off de Ridder is out on the runways in a Green Volkswagen Van equipped with a cassette player and with speakers mounted on Hie Ruof. A the Van. De Kidder carries tapes of Bird distress Calls to scare away throws magpies Lapwing and gulls. He aim parts a 12-gauge Shotgun and ammunition and a Hare gun that shoots noise cartridges. On the runway de Ridder plays the tapes and shoots the noise cartridges to icare thirds away. He checks the adjoining melds for Nesis and he dips eggs in kerosene in prevent hatching. Usually a nesting Bird will lease when the eggs do not Hatch. Bui not always like the one thai nested on the Edge of a runway. The eggs had been dipped but the Bird would t leave. One Day four f-l5s were Laj int off. The Bird was in the nest and he was blown off by the engines gun fling up for Takeoff do Ridder said he did t Fly off but crawled Back to the nest and sat the Bird finally left 42 Days after the eggs were dipped. Do Ridder will shoot the Birds if he has to. I Don t like it he said. I try to protect the Birds by scaring them away i iry to protect the planes since de Ridder took control of the Birds six years ago. The number of Bird strikes has decreased and none has caused aircraft damage . That s not bad on a $30 million plane he said. Moil of the damage is to the canopy that fits Over the cockpit hut aircraft wings Are punctured and. If a Bird Hies into an engine the engine can Slop. Tills and pigeons Are the worst they re Hig he said. A Bird fan have the Impact of a ton weight when it hits a a Lew base workers Are sceptical of the Job of Bird hut it s hard to argue with Success. Is ill. Do Ridder who has no formal raining and works under the supervision of an ornithologist at dutch air Force Headquarters in the Hague admits thai the Job is unusual. You do the Job the Best you can. Sometimes you re lining there for hours watching silting Birds. 1 eople envy me in the summer but not m the Winter. They say you have to he a Little bit crazy to
