Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport and Brown Field Municipal Airport
About: The City of San Diego’s Airports Division operates two general aviation airports totaling 1,330 acres with nearly eight miles of runways and taxiways that handle roughly 400,000 aircraft operations a year. Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport is the busiest general aviation airport in the region and an FAA-designated reliever for San Diego International Airport. Brown Field Municipal Airport in Otay Mesa, a mile and a half from the Mexican border, has the longest civilian runway in the region and serves as the international gateway for general aviation aircraft entering the country, alongside a sizable volume of military, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, law enforcement, and fire-rescue operations.
Wildlife Conflict: Wildlife on an airfield can present a substantial risk to safety, and the FAA’s wildlife hazard guidance directs airports to identify the species using their property and surroundings, understand what attracts them, and manage the airfield to reduce the chance of a strike. Although neither is subject to the mandatory requirements that apply to commercial-service airports, the City has adopted that approach at both airports.
Our Role: WI supports the City’s wildlife hazard mitigation program on an on-call basis, providing a Qualified Airport Wildlife Biologist to advise the Airports Division at both airfields. WI biologists assisted in tracking movement and behavior patterns, identifying travel corridors and compromised areas in exclusionary fencing, and addressing hazardous wildlife concerns closest to active runways and taxiways. Data collected can feed directly into the City’s wildlife hazard identification and mitigation efforts, giving the Airports Division the information it needs to address specific conflicts between aviation safety and the wildlife living around both airfields.