USS GERALD R. FORD (CVN-78), ATLANTIC OCEAN — The Navy confirmed Thursday that all fixed-wing flight operations aboard USS Gerald R. Ford have been suspended indefinitely following the establishment of what a naval incident report classifies as an unauthorized wildlife incursion within the ship’s forward primary flight deck zone.
The incursion involves a single herring gull.
The bird was first documented at 0614 on May 6th, occupying a position at approximately the midpoint of the ship’s catapult number two launch track. The incident report designates it as Wildlife Incursion Alpha. The bird has declined to relocate.
It has been there for eleven days.
“We take airspace safety aboard this vessel seriously,” said Rear Admiral Francis T. Gould, Carrier Strike Group 12 commander, during a brief statement delivered from the ship’s flag bridge, which maintains an unobstructed view of the flight deck and the bird. “An unauthorized presence on the primary launch track represents a potential foreign object debris hazard. We are addressing that presence through appropriate channels.”
The appropriate channels have so far included a specialized bird dispersal air horn system, deployed on May 7th and operated for approximately four hours. The bird moved eight feet to the left. It returned the following morning.
A trained Harris’s hawk, contracted from a licensed civilian wildlife control company and flown aboard by helicopter on May 9th, was introduced to the flight deck at 0900. The gull observed the hawk with what the incident log describes as “apparent indifference.” The hawk did not pursue. A spokesperson for the contracted company confirmed the Harris’s hawk declined to engage.
A Notice to Airmen covering the airspace in proximity to catapult two has been extended twice.
The ship’s Judge Advocate General detachment was consulted on May 11th regarding the legal framework governing wildlife removal from federal military vessels operating in international waters. The JAG detachment’s preliminary assessment, which runs to eleven pages, concludes that jurisdiction is “potentially shared” between the Navy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and applicable international maritime treaty provisions governing migratory seabirds. It recommends additional research.
The bird has since migrated from catapult two to catapult three.
A memorandum requesting formal consultation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been drafted, reviewed by the ship’s XO, and is pending signature.
The Gerald R. Ford’s air wing, comprising 75 aircraft and approximately 2,500 personnel, has maintained readiness during the suspension. Flight operations have been temporarily rerouted to shore-based facilities in Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia. The transit adds approximately 340 miles per round trip per sortie.
Wildlife Incursion Alpha was last observed Tuesday at 0715, positioned on catapult three, facing east.
It appeared comfortable.
The NOTAM has been extended through next Friday.
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