We have heard of birds “colliding” with airplanes and we are well aware of the dangers posed by these curious creatures to aviation.
Funny how even small flying animals can create chaos up there where supposedly there’s no traffic and no traffic enforcers. Okay, let me correct myself, there’s air traffic and of course, there are air traffic enforcers. But how do they deal with pesky little birds (and the big ones, too) which think that the air space is their territory and who further think that the planes and choppers are invading their territory?
Speaker Jose de Venecia did experience such birdy problem last Saturday (February 11) when, from Dagupan City, he went to Zambales to be the ninong (principal witness) during the mass wedding in an Aeta community there.
Just before he and his companions boarded the borrowed helicopter that will bring them to the Aeta settlement village in Paete, San Narciso, the chopper’s pilot fidgeted around the engine.
He saw a bird there, the pilot told the Speaker. But finding no bird, he flew the chopper.
But some tweak tweak (or twit! twit!) sounds coming from the engine forced the pilot to land the chopper at the Clark Airport where the engine was inspected. There was no bird there, not even a dead one.
So the chopper proceeded to Zambales.
If there was really a bird at the engine, it could have endangered the lives of the passengers, including de Venecia’s, the fourth most powerful person in the country. And the bird could have been killed, too.
Maybe it flew away somewhere between Pangasinan and Clark, one of the passengers said. Or maybe the pilot was imagining?
 
But a reality struck that birds, especially in these parts where they fly far and free,  do pose danger to aviation.