Attention To Detail By Crew Saves Stowaway Owl
When you perform your next walkaround inspection, consider
adding "owl check" to the list -- thankfully for one little screech
owl, sailors aboard the USS Harry S. Truman did just that earlier
this year.
On the morning of March 17, Aviation Electronics Technician
Airman Apprentice Tony McJohnston and Aviation Structural Mechanic
3rd class Jeremy Smith were performing a pre-flight inspection of
an F/A-18 Hornet aboard the aircraft carrier when they discovered
an unexpected stow-away. Hidden inside the main wheel well of
the aircraft was the VERY small owl.
Certainly out of place on an aircraft carrier out at sea, the
tiny owl could have easily been overlooked, but thankfully the keen
eyes of the crew saved the little raptor from becoming a piece of
foreign object debris (FOD,) the Navy reported.
Lucky for the little guy, the carrier had some experienced crew
aboard that qualified as "flight crew" for him. A licensed
falconer in the US, Aviation Structural Mechanic 2nd class Zachary
Gorman was called to the scene to check the status of the bird and
make sure he was OK.
"When I got there, I checked him over to make sure he didn't
have any broken wings and if he was dehydrated or malnourished,"
said Gorman.
A shot of sugar water administered by Gorman and the flight deck
medical team helped rehydrate the owl and bring him back to
health.
"For the most part the bird was healthy, just a little tired,"
said Gorman after finding no life-threatening problems.
As named by Flight Deck Controllers, "Fod" settled into a
makeshift "stateroom" box aboard ship while being treated by Gorman
who has worked with birds of prey since the age of 12.
"I've worked with a lot of owls throughout the years, but I
never thought I'd have to deal with one on a carrier in the middle
of the Gulf" said Gorman.
Fod could not live aboard the carrier indefinitely, but couldn't
be immediately released because of his health.
"Since he was in a weak condition, flying to land would decrease
his chances of survival so we thought we would give him a hand,"
said Gorman.
Arrangements were made to give Fod a free ride to land via a
Carrier Onboard Delivery aircraft, where he could be released
safely and out of harms way.
"They were going there anyway so we made it a little bit easier
on him," said Gorman.
(Aero-News thanks Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class
Damian Martinez, USS Harry S. Truman Public Affairs, for this
heartening report)