[BC] 3,000 Birds Disrupt Radar

[Dave]

I find it hard to believe the small size of the bird vs that of an aircraft
would register as a separate primary blip.

Tom Osenkowsky, CPBE




Individual birds, no. Flocks of birds, yes.

I find this story suspect for a couple of reasons.

First I'm not aware of a RADAR that shuts down, crashes, or even locks up
due to seeing too many targets (however, I will look into this as I'm not an
ASR-9 tech, and it's perhaps an interesting possibility).

Second, it was reported by a newspaper. I've too many times read articles
that I had some firsthand knowledge of, and they usually don't get it right.
Most reporters don't have the technical/mathematical/mechanical background
to ask the right questions, nor to understand what they were told.

Dave Dunsmoor