Would regular flying prevent this?
On a retractable (I think these are TB20s) a bird can get in via the landing gear cavity, but wouldn’t the plane need to be sitting there for a long time? Birds are normally slow at making nests in a new location.
Peter wrote:
Birds are normally slow at making nests in a new location.
Some birds may be slow but not all of them are – round here, jackdaws are a real pest. I had my chimney cleared of them and took care to light a fire every day, even if only some newspapers. I neglected that duty one day and presto the chimney’s blocked again.
Peter wrote:
Birds are normally slow at making nests in a new location
On the engine it took four days at Calvi LFKC, but was not quite ready.
At Deggendorf I had a nest after two days on the engine, two years ago.
It probably depends a lot on the time of year.
We had mice crawling up the front wheel and into the aircraft. It did destroy a headset before we catched it.
After that we keep a circular metal screen around the front wheel when parked in the hanger.
In the case small birds, prevention is better than cure, because once the nest construction has started, the aircraft may be grounded until the fledglings have departed – for which lunacy we may thank the EU (Article 5)
On the other hand, a Barn Owl lives in our hangar and provides an adequate rodent control service. It’s not win-win, as anyone who has provided accommodation for an owl will know, it just means cleaning owl droppings off the top of the wings at the same time as washing the bugs off the front and the sheep sh1t off the underside…
Jacko wrote:
In the case small birds, prevention is better than cure, because once the nest construction has started, the aircraft may be grounded until the fledglings have departed – for which lunacy we may thank the EU (Article 5)
That is not at all how I read this directive. In particular in view of article 9.1(a).
Article 9.1 merely permits member states to issue derogations in certain circumstances, including “in the interests of air safety” i.e. to reduce risk of bird strikes in flight. I don’t think that article permits a derogation to allow removal of nests from stationary aircraft. But more to the point, has Sweden issued such a derogation?
The answer would seem to be “no”
If you know the nest is there, you’re grounded. Of course, if you overlook it on the pre-flight, and inadvertently fly the nest from Uppsala to Gothenburg, the birds may abandon the nest. Then I suppose it can be destroyed. But better to stop it being built in the first place.
You are referring to a directive and not a regulation. That means that it has to be implemented in national regulations and the national regulations are the legally binding texts.
But the question is interesting and I have put it to the responsible government authority in Sweden.
