From the "About Time" Dept: Radar May Check for Flocks of Birds

Remember that whole "Plane takes off," "Goose flies in engine," "engine catches on fire," "Plane lands in Hudson River" sequence that happened two weeks ago? (Answer: of course you do.)

Well, the whole thing could have been avoided by simply having radar to detect flocks of birds. Which someone is working on, apparently.

Federal aviation officials say a handful of U.S. airports will soon begin testing experimental radar systems designed to track flocks of birds.

The new technology can monitor birds as far as six miles away from an airfield. It's being tested at airports in Seattle, Chicago and Dallas.

Oh, wow! That's awesome! Except ... WHY DON'T WE ALREADY HAVE THIS? Seriously, airplane people: you have technological systems that allow planes to land themselves, and yet, you can't figure out when a giant group of birds, flying together (likely south, or possibly north) are headed towards an airplane, which is, by the way, also a giant metal object. Sigh.