Warsaw Airport Manager Nick King, pictured left, answers a question for Warsaw Board of Aviation Commissioners President Dan Robinson, pictured right, at a meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 9. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — The Warsaw Municipal Airport has seen a large increase in migratory birds this year, and a green laser may help solve that problem.

CHA Consulting Project Engineer Mary Kerstein told the Warsaw Board of Aviation Commissioners Tuesday, Sept. 9, she sent the wildlife hazard site visit information on to the Federal Aviation Administration for their review but hadn’t received any comment back from that.

Airport Manager Nick King said, “I’ve been talking with (CHA Principal Environmental Planner) Simon (Davies) after we had the bird strike last month. We had one of our crop dusters hit a couple geese as it was taking off. We are not resubmitting (the report) at this time, but we have added some appendices that we will be submitting to the FAA, and then I’m working with Simon on updating our wildlife hazard harassment policy for the airport.”

He said they’re working on a couple new permits, some new policies and some new procedures for harassing wildlife.

“One of the big ones that is new at airports is using green lasers. Birds, specifically, deem those as an active threat, and it’s a lot safer because you are not using bird bangers, which are small bottle rocket-type things. While those are effective, the lasers are even more effective,” King stated.

He said the green lasers they need are more expensive because they’re for an airport.
“We’re working through making sure we have the appropriate permits and licenses for harassing those animals. There’s specific USDA and U.S. Fish & Wildlife permits that we have to have for harassment,” King said. “We have seen a large increase in migratory birds this year. Starlings, not nearly as much as we have in the last few years, but we’ve seen more geese already this year than we saw in total last year, and so it’s something we’re really working with our tenants on. If you see something, please call us and let us know. We’ll send someone out to try to get them off the field because we know the geese are one of the more dangerous animals to have on the field.”

Aviation Board Member Gene Zale asked how the laser worked and if there would be multiple lasers.

“It kind of looks like a rifle scope that’s got a little red dot scope on the top, and the way that you do it is you start on the ground. You want to be elevated. So you drive a truck out to where the geese are 100 yards or so away, and then you start on the ground,” King replied.

The reason the equipment is so expensive is because the beam for the green laser is quite a bit wider than one that might be bought at a store.

“And then you start to slowly bring it up. When you get it close to the geese — I’ve seen video — they will leave. And I’ve talked to a couple other colleagues at other airports that are using them, they don’t come back. They view that as a direct” threat, King said, but no one really knows why. “It’s a great way of passively removing the birds from the airfield,” King said.

The upfront cost to the laser is high, but long term the cost is minimal. Board Vice President John Yingling asked what the pilot procedure for the birds is. King said they should call the airport and they will come out. In another matter, Kerstein said they did have a meeting on Sept. 4 with the FAA and the Indiana Department of Transportation on taxiway B rehabilitation and the FAA believes there’s a very good chance of the airport receiving a grant application this week for taxiway B.

“We originally were showing that grant to be virtually discretionary and then partially some of the bill funding, and it sounds like now they were able to get more discretionary dollars, so we won’t have to use some of that bill or IIAHA money for that, so they are just getting the final paperwork in place,” she said.

She asked the board to approve the FAA grant, with Board President Dan Robinson’s signature, even though they have not received it yet, because when the grant comes into place, the FAA wants a quick turnaround, sometimes a day or two.

“There should be two grants. You don’t have the AIP numbers for them yet, but the total of those grants would be for $2,836,121.50. So, again, this would be an FAA grant, with the local share for that percentage being $70,903.50,” she said.

Yingling asked if it’s a grant from the FAA, then why does the airport have a local share.

“We always have a local share,” King said.

FAA grants used to be 90% FAA, 5% local and 5% state. That recently changed to 95% FAA, 2.5% state and 2.5% local. Kerstein said the percentages have gone back and forth over the years, depending on how much money is allocated to the Airport Improvement Plan Fund every couple years. The board approved the grant, for Robinson to sign it or for King to sign it if Robinson is not available.

Kerstein also reported on:

• The runway 27 obstruction mitigation (power line lowering) project, everything was sent to the FAA in June and now they’re just waiting for the FAA to close out the grant for the approximate $7 million project. The FAA did receive all the documentation from CHA. She guessed the grant may not be closed out until toward the end of the year.

• The runway 9-27 safety area, CHA is still compiling final comments to get the final version to the FAA. That should be completed by month’s end.

• Corporate taxilane E-1 rehabilitation/reconstruction, Phend & Brown came out in August and fixed the small area that was holding water. She presented a CHA invoice for $6,174.60, all local share, which the board approved.

• Runway 9-27 rehabilitation, saying Phend & Brown has basically done everything. “They’ve paved last week and have half application of paint on Saturday, and the runway is now open. Tomorrow, Phend & Brown will be out to put seeding down in some of the areas that they disturbed, and then they will return in October to perform grooving and full paint application at that time,” she said. She presented a CHA invoice of $41,870, all local share, which the board approved.

In other business, the board:

• Approved King’s signature on a taxiway B basis of design FAA AIP grant for $99,500. The local share was $2,488.

• Reviewed the 2026 airport budget, which was presented to the Warsaw Common Council in August.

• Approved a three-year extension for Bishop Family Farms to lease the airport’s farmgrounds. The lease is for $24,421.50 per year. After the three-year extension, the land lease will have to be advertised for bids.

• Tentatively scheduled the board’s October meeting for 5:15 p.m. Oct. 6 in the city council chambers at City Hall.