Beware of dog: Robotic quadruped meant for wildlife hazing arrives at Fairbanks airport
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - The Fairbanks International Airport (FAI) welcomed a new four-legged creature to its ranks this week, unveiling Aurora the robotic dog at a press conference and public Q&A session Thursday.
Its primary purpose? To instill fear in the airport’s avian visitors, ideally avoiding — or at least minimizing — bird strikes through non-lethal methods.
A Federal Aviation Administration database shows that there were 93 wildlife collisions across Alaska in 2023, with 10 of those in Fairbanks.
Birds on runways generate more than just wildlife strike data, and in Alaska, tragedy isn’t in the distant past. In 1995, an E-3 sentry Airborne Warning and Control System plane took off from an Elmendorf runway — and so did a flock of Canada geese. Some of the birds were sucked into the engines, and the plane crashed, killing the 24 crew members.
FAI already employs numerous strategies to ward off the winged animals, including stationary effigies of fox and coyotes. But eventually, birds get accustomed to those methods, according to FAI Chief of Operations Phil Adams.
