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Bird Control Program Forward Landfill—Manteca, California _ <br /> been a gull resting on the airport runway. The fifth strike involved a business jet on its landing <br /> roll on 31 December 2011. The flight crew reported the strike at the time and must have seen the <br /> bird. Had it been a gull, it likely would have been reported as such or at least as a medium or <br /> large bird. A runway check was performed immediately after the incident but no carcass was <br /> found, again suggesting that a gull was not involved. <br /> There were two strikes reportedly involving "large" birds and two involving birds of <br /> "medium" size. There was no information on the species involved although it should be noted <br /> that gulls are fairly easy to identify as gulls, if they are seen. Of the two incidents involving <br /> "large" birds, the first occurred on 23 April 2000 when most gulls have left the Stockton area. <br /> This involved a Cessna Citation II jet that struck a bird at 2000 ft while on climbout from <br /> Runway 29. The aircraft was west of the airport at the time. It made a precautionary landing <br /> with a small amount of damage. Given the time of year and the altitude of the strike, it is _ <br /> unlikely that a gull was involved. The second strike of an unknown "large' bird occurred on 16 <br /> January 2010 and involved a single-engine Piper 46 Malibu aircraft that was at an elevation of <br /> 2500 ft, 8-10 miles west of SCK on climbout from Runway 29. Given the altitude, it is unlikely _ <br /> that a gull was involved and given the location, it is unlikely that a bird from the landfill, which <br /> is east of the airport, was involved. <br /> The two incidents involving unknown birds of "medium" size are discussed in this <br /> paragraph. The first involved an MD-80 twin-engine passenger jet that struck a bird at 400 ft <br /> while still over the airport on climbout from Runway 29R on 23 January 2008. The pilot advised _ <br /> of the strike and continued on his flight with no damage to the aircraft. The second incident <br /> involved a Learjet 45, a small twin-engine business jet. The aircraft was on approach to Runway <br /> 29R in rain and fog on 28 December 2009. It broke out of the clouds and struck a bird over the <br /> runway. There was no damage and the strike had no effect on the flight. <br /> In conclusion, of the 45 strike reports from Stockton Metropolitan Airport beginning in — <br /> 1990, only one definitely involved a gull (carcass only) and three others might have involved <br /> gulls. Even allowing for significant under-reporting of bird strikes, four strikes at SCK in over <br /> 24 years with no damage reported indicates that the uncontrolled Forward Landfill was not <br /> posing a significant threat to aircraft using the Stockton Metropolitan Airport. Twenty-three of <br /> the reported bird strikes at SCK occurred since the gull control program was instituted at <br /> Forward Landfill. These strikes involved Barn Owls (3), a Burrowing Owl, a White-tailed Kite, — <br /> Red-tailed Hawks (3), a Turkey Vulture, an American Kestrel, Horned Larks (3), Western <br /> Meadowlarks (2), a Rock Pigeon, an European Starling, unidentified small birds (4), and two <br /> unidentified birds. No gulls were involved and none of the birds struck were attracted to the area <br /> by the landfill. <br /> Conclusions <br /> The studies reported here were designed to assess whether the gull control program at the <br /> Forward Landfill continued to be effective in eliminating any hazard to aircraft caused by the <br /> attraction of birds to the landfill. The control program continued to be virtually completely <br /> effective at preventing gulls from feeding at, or otherwise using, the Forward Landfill. This was a <br /> huge reduction from the estimated 3,000 gulls that were present at the Forward Landfill in March — <br /> 13 30 December 2013 <br />