Wildlife on the Runway
Circa 1990
Once,
We were at Fort Myers and there was a NOTAM for wildlife on or near the runway. NOTAMs, or “Notices to Airmen,” (since politically corrected to “Notices to Air Missions”) are included in the weather reports published hourly or more as needed at airports. As we taxied out for takeoff in our 727, a Continental jet landed and reported a turtle on the runway about midway down. While this might have represented some small amount of risk, we reasoned that we could spot the threat and avoid it. Furthermore, I felt my keen reflexes could outmaneuver any darting that the turtle might try at the last minute.
Sure enough, I spotted the turtle about 1,000 feet in advance. Naturally, I was on the centerline of the runway, as was he. My internal calculator quickly determined that rotation speed would precede his location (maybe the same internal calculator that told me I could clear the sign in Hartford, but that memory is too repressed for comment). It quickly became apparent that a slower rotation would result in a less benign encounter for the turtle. I am sorry. This was a split-second impulse, and I think the psychologists would say insufficient time to separate the superego from the id, or something like that. Anyway, I knew that the center engine on the 727 came within a yard of touching the runway during rotation, but he lives in a shell for heaven’s sake! Continental, still taxiing to his gate, reported that I blew the turtle to the end of the runway, about 4,000 feet.
Captain’s Log 