Laserfiche WebLink
f. Parks, Golf Courses, Natural Resources, and Natural Areas <br />According to the FAA, parks, golf courses, natural resources, and natural areas have the potential to <br />create wildlife hazard attractants on or near airports. These areas may provide wildlife corridors, <br />roost sites, rookeries, migratory flyway stop over sites or numerous other functions that may benefit <br />wildlife but, due to their location, may create situations where wildlife are crossing airspace for <br />approach, departing, or training aircraft. These activities may occur well above ground level and out <br />of reach for airport operators to deter the activity. Furthermore, parks or golf courses, which often <br />possess features that act as attractants to hazardous wildlife (e.g., open sources of garbage, water <br />features, etc.), should be avoided in the approach/departure paths of an airport; particularly in close <br />proximity to the runway ends. <br />Alternatively, parks, golf courses, and certain types of natural areas are, in most cases, preferable to <br />intensive development in the vicinity of airports. In order to prevent the creation of hazardous <br />wildlife attractants, it is recommended that provisions are built into requiring the creation of <br />wildlife hazard management plans, if a land use of this type is proposed within an airport area. <br />g. Landscaping <br />Certain types of landscaping materials and designs may create wildlife hazard attractants on and <br />near airports. Landscape architects could include guidance on appropriate plants to be used for <br />landscaping of new land uses within an airport area in order to prevent or limit the attraction of <br />hazardous wildlife. This landscape palette could be used to provide guidance to new developments <br />proposed within an airport area. <br />h. Other Flight Hazards <br />In addition to the physical hazards to flight posed by tall objects and wildlife, other land use <br />characteristics can present visual or electronic hazards: <br />♦ Visual Hazards — Visual hazards include distracting lights (particularly lights which can be <br />confused with airfield lights), glare, and sources of smoke and dust. Also, policies should <br />require that outdoor lights are shielded so that they do not aim above the horizon. Additionally, <br />for projects near the airport, outdoor lighting should be flight checked at night to ensure that it <br />does not blind pilots during landings and takeoffs. Also, lights arranged in a linear pattern can <br />be mistaken for airport lights denoting operational areas. <br />♦ Electronic Hazards — Electronic hazards include any uses that interfere with aircraft instruments <br />or radio communication. Additionally, wind - turbine farms have been known to interfere with air <br />traffic control (ATC) or military air defense radar. (This author has previously personally met <br />with U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy pilots who have expressed concern regarding this matter.) <br />♦ Thermal Hazards — Thermal plumes, heat plumes, including steam, from cooling towers, even <br />when not a visual hazard, may be a hazard to flight by causing air turbulence. <br />There are no specific FAA standards for these hazards. Potential hazards are evaluated on a case - <br />by -case basis. ALUCs can request an FAA evaluation of proposed development when certain <br />features appear to be potentially hazardous. <br />ri <br />