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)

FMI: www.navy.mil