UK Airport Uses Space-Age ‘Laser Gun’ To Scare Off Birds

A UK airport is using futuristic ‘laser guns’ to scare birds away from the runway.

The Aerolaser is being regularly deployed at Dundee Airport, projecting a bright green light which has a range of more than a mile.

Quizzical birds flying in the vicinity view the laser as a threat, and fly off in the other direction.

The handheld laser gun is used largely due to its quiet operation, which is favoured over noisier methods of dispersing birds which can also cause a hazard for pilots.

The Aerolaser was developed by the Netherlands-based Bird Control Group and comes with a price tag of £8,000.

Andrew Lindsay, Dundee Airport’s fire manager starting using the gadget after seeing it in use at Southampton Airport in Hampshire.

Lindsay told MailOnline: “The laser we are trialling can project a beam for about 2km (1.25 miles) in distance so it has a very long range and is so far proving very effective at deterring birds in a safe and humane manner”.

Bird strikes can have potentially lethal consequences, especially if the unlucky avians are sucked into an aircraft’s engines.

US Airways Flight 1459, which famously made an emergency landing on the Hudson River in New York, is thought to have had its jet engines crippled by multiple bird strikes.

Image credit: Dundee Airport/Facebook