Wildlife Advocates Denounce Aerial Gunning

Saw this on Avweb today. More people wanting to protect us from ourselves. I guess they will be happy when we live in glass bubbles.

Flying at 40 feet or so AGL while firing at wild animals on the ground might not seem like the safest way to fly an airplane. But it's standard practice in the American West, where the federal government operates a fleet of aircraft and contracts with pilots to fly their own small airplanes and helicopters for "predator control." This summer, the practice is under fire from environmentalists, following several crashes they say boost their argument that the practice is unsafe ... for humans, that is. This summer, a small airplane and a helicopter involved in hunting crashed in Montana, injuring four people, two of them seriously, and a federal aircraft in Nevada crashed in July. The environmental group Sinapu, based in Boulder, Colo., said it has documented 21 crashes involving federal predator-control flights since 1989, resulting in seven fatalities and 23 injuries. Whether that represents a greater-than-average accident rate for GA operations is undetermined. Sinapu and other advocates argue that the program is costly, dangerous, and ineffective, and should be discontinued. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the benefits of its predator-control programs far outweigh the costs.

New training Program...

Pilot: FLY THE PLANE SAFELY....Let the Gunner do his job you do yours...

Gunner: 1) DON'T shoot the pilot...
2) DON'T shoot the Plane or chopper...
3) Fasten your seatbelt before leaning out the door...
4) Happy hunting...

I agree Steve, somebody will always be unhappy about something and what these advocates always forget that is the people doing these jobs know the risks and do them willingly....And probably love their jobs...

CaptFox,
You don't really think the people that raised the issue care a lick about the pilots, do you?
SB

No SB I dont... Nor the gunner either...

I was just being sarcastic about it...

David

Aerial shooting

A bloke I worked for in the early eightys had a government contract for feral animal control. They shot 10,000 donkeys and brumbys (wild horses) in 2 weeks, you could still fly in the area shot and see horses and donkeys missed.
The aircraft used were Hughes 300's and the weapons were semi automatic 308's. The only damage done was a couple of blades with holes and all animals were culled with one shot to the back of the head. Most shots with the chopper flying slowly and at about 50 metres.
There has been a bit of greeny activity disagreeing with aerial culling here now and the practice has halted in some states (to the detriment of the very enviorment these clowns are trying to protect).
I would have thought the greeny's complaining over there would'nt worry about the aircraft or crew and would be more concerned with animals.

SB,
Amen bro......every grunt worth his salt knows why you I.D. your smoke. and thats all this is ....SMOKE....has nothin to do with aviation and everything thing to do with the consumtive use of wildlife, or the lack of ..if they have their way. Don't fall for this mis-representation!! OOOps rant and rave...

Aireal Hunting

I used to hunt wolves with my Cub and can say there in nothing more fun to do in the winter. It is a little hard on equipment at times and you tend to push the envelope a bit in all the excitement, but what the hay... Crash

AK cubbers
Did Murkowski sign something for land and shoot wolf hunting for next spring?? I've heard rumors to that effect. If it's a fact, I'll be up there next spring!! I hunt in unit 13 and didn't see a moose in the Talkeetna drainage in 3 weeks of flying in the area this year!!
85 Mike

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Ya just never know diggler---but it is easy for them to enlist your plane in their air farce once you do get caught--pretty pricey!!

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1972, Nixon, Republican. Diggler, you should start a liberal talk show. You seem to make conservatives clam up alot.

OOPS-- this should go in the rant and rave section Go ahead and kick us off Steve

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How about just talking Cubs here please, instead of waisting space on stupid political crap. If I want to hear political crap, I know where to find it.

Go rant and rave.

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Airborne hunting is definately a part of Super Cubs. It's just that it is impossible to read all the new posts on here, and it would be nice to separate the none Cub political stuff. You have every right to post whatever you want, where ever you want Dig, I'd just like to be able to trim it down to the Cub stuff easier.

We can sure easily move it to the rant and rave section if that is desired.

sj

aerial hunting

Sometimes rant and rave is good...on the SuperCub page especially. How can you talk aerial hunting without talking Super Cub? How can you talk Super Cub without talking aerial hunting? My Super Cub aerial hunting is limited however I highly intend to change that...as long as Murkowski and/or the powers that be legalize it. I'm not overly excited about having the ADFG take anything I own for mis-firing...whether it's a roller blade or a propeller blade. Maybe we should have a whole new topic re: wolf busting with Super Cubs, some history and some incentive to "thin the 'herd'". Best for safety aloft. larry kaniut

I grew up in a tiny Wyoming town (pop. 273) with just a handful of pilots to look up to. One of those guys was a larger-than-life character with his C180 and a monster-tired Supercub that the gov't provided for keeping the coyotes out of the sheep herds. I never missed an opportunity to race out to see him take off -- probably the number-one reason I love bushy taildraggers today. Not long after I got my pilot ticket, he took me for a ride and taught a few key lessons that he said had saved his life more than a few times in his 10000+ hours (also taught me spins in the 180!). A month later I learned that he and his gunner had been killed when that same Supercub had slammed into a side of a remote Wyoming hillside. That was nearly 2 decades ago and he is still sorely missed. Be careful out there.