Project Sea Hunt — Pigeon Spotter Aircrew

Trained pigeons, mounted in clear pods on the bellies of HH-52 Sea Guard helicopters, pecked a key when they spotted orange life-raft material in the water. The bird had better color vision and pattern recognition than the human aircrew.

The Story

In controlled tests, the pigeons spotted simulated overturned life rafts on the first pass 90% of the time. The Marine and Coast Guard aviators flying the same helicopters spotted them less than 50% of the time. When forced to choose between human aircrew and pigeons, the Coast Guard kept the humans. The pigeons retired undefeated.