McAlester Airport Looking To Keep Deer Off Runways

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) -- The manager of McAlester Regional Airport says a fence is needed to keep deer off the property before someone is killed.<br/><br/>Butch Mellor is working on an application asking

Monday, July 17th 2006, 1:36 pm

By: News On 6

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) -- The manager of McAlester Regional Airport says a fence is needed to keep deer off the property before someone is killed.

Butch Mellor is working on an application asking the Federal Aviation Administration for emergency funding to pay for a fence at the south end of the airport.

He says four times in the past three years a deer has been hit by an aircraft either taking off or landing. The most recent incident was last week.

Mellor says the plane was taking off when the deer ran across the runway. No one on the plane was injured but the deer didn't survive.