"Aerial ATVs" May Be Used To Ward Off Predators

After two years of prodding by Idaho's congressional delegation and the office of Governor Dirk Kempthorne, the FAA has granted its conditional approval to ranchers who wish to obtain state permits to shoot coyotes and other predators while flying overhead in powered parachutes and ultralights.

"These are the newest, hottest things for ranchers," said FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer. "This is something people out West really wanted, to be able to use these aircraft out in the middle of nowhere to do the things they need to do."

While a law allowing people to "shoot, capture, harass or kill" wildlife that is threatening livestock, while the person is overhead in an aircraft, has been on the books for years in Idaho, the state had asked the FAA for waiver to continue the practice after it caught the agency's attention in 2003 -- when the FAA cited a southeastern Idaho rancher for using his powered parachute as an aerial gun platform to shoot coyotes.

The agency initially balked at the request, but last spring FAA Administrator Marion Blakey agreed to the practice, saying the agency "does not want to unduly restrict these activities, but only wants to ensure they are conducted safely and in appropriately certificated aircraft."

By "appropriately certificated," Blakey means those airplanes certified under the FAA's Light Sport category -- especially ultralights and powered 'chutes, planes dubbed by Idaho officials as "aerial ATVs." With as little as eight hours of training, a pilot can legally operate such vehicles.

"As technology has improved, it has become apparent that powered parachutes are an ideal vehicle for airborne predator control," wrote Stanley Boyd, a lobbyist for woolgrowers, elk breeders and cattle ranchers who heads the Idaho Animal Damage Control Board.

Not everyone agrees with that assessment, however -- in particular, animal rights activists.

"I'm covering my eyes and laughing," said Wendy Keefover-Ring, coordinator of a national coalition of environmental groups that wants to end aerial gunning of wildlife, to the Associated Press. "It's unsafe even when you are in a plane that has a stronger engine than these ultralights have."

"There is so little margin for error when you are flying 10 feet off the ground shooting a gun at a moving target," Keefover-Ring added, while also acknowledging that to date, the conservation group Sinapu has no record of an ultralight crashing while being used for aerial gunning.

Sinapu does have records, going back to 1989, of 24 accidents involving standard aircraft and helicopters during airborne predator flights. Those accidents resulted in the deaths of 32 people, Keefover-Ring said.

Those who support the use of light aircraft for hunting say those numbers support their case.

"Airplanes, even small planes, can travel over 100 miles an hour, while these aerial ATVs move along about the speed that a coyote can run," said Eulalie Langford, a former state legislator from Montpelier who also defended the unidentified pilot cited in 2003. "If there's a mountain coming up, you have plenty of time to see it and take evasive action."

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.goagro.org