Short Final: Bird Dog

Tuesday, September 04, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Airport operations received a report of a dead animal on Runway 13.
Initial confusion about whether it was a previously reported dog was cleared up when "Ground" reported seeing feathers.
An unidentified aircraft humorously interjected with "It's a Bird Dog!", which was met with laughter on the radio.

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I was working field operations at a major airport and got this call:

Ground: Ops 1, Ground.

Me:Go ahead.

Ground: We just got a report of a dead animal about the thousand‑foot markers on Runway 13.

Me: Is that the previously reported dog that we cleared?

Ground: Negative. I’m seeing feathers.

From an unidentified aircraft: It’s a Bird Dog!

That was followed by an avalanche of microphone clicks and laughter.

Jonathan Friedman

Morristown, NJ