Navy calls for coordinated efforts to prevent bird hits
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, SEPT 13
Voicing concern over the twin bird hit cases at Dabolim airport on Sunday morning, the Navy has insisted that a coordinated effort of all stakeholders is necessary to curb such bird hit incidents that could lead to a major air disaster.
Increasing bird hit cases at the Dabolim airfield is a cause of concern for Indian naval and civilian aircraft.
It may be recalled that on Sunday at about 4.30 am, Airbus 320 of Air Arabia from Sharjah carrying over 185 passengers suffered minor bird hit during landing.
Over two hours later, a Kingfisher flight with 42 passengers on the board had a miraculous escape, after the aircraft suffered a severe bird hit that damaged its propeller and broke into pieces. Luckily, none of the incidents resulted in any major mishap.
“The study of bird hit statistical data highlights 60% of bird hits to aircraft occur during the take-off/landing phase. This is the case across the world,” Navy PRO M C Joshi told Herald.
“Therefore, the take-off/landing phase of an aircraft is the most critical phase. The height during the phase can be anywhere from 1,000 ft to ground level.”
Commenting on the dangers of bird hits on aircraft, Joshi said the impact of bird hits on aircraft travelling at 300 Kmph can cause a great damage to the airframe and could sometimes result in fatal crashes, resulting in loss of innocent lives.
“The single engine fighter are the worst affected due to lack of redundancy for a power plant,” he said.
“But, it is important to understand that the danger of bird hit to civil/military aircraft is equal, as this could result in loss of innocent lives.”
When asked about the frequency of bird hits at Dabolim airport, Joshi said: “Due to proactive measures taken up at the air station, birds hits within Dabolim airfield have been reduced to 2/3 in a year. However, civil aircraft do report bird strikes by small birds like crow, pigeon and lapwings on numerous occasions.”
“Most bird hits have occurred to civil aircraft outside the airfield boundary during the approach to the airfield where the surveillance is not that of Navy.”
“All pilots are adequately warned by ATC based on reports by birds watchers from the Bird Hazard Control Team (BHCT) positioned within the airfield at suitable locations,” he said.
Joshi said the INS Hansa takes several precautions to minimize bird hits at Dabolim airport.
“The air station takes various measures and constantly keeps experimenting with different methods to chase away the bird from the airfield with methods.”
“This includes the utilization of LPG operated devices around the airfield to scare the birds on the way and employment of Bird Hazard Combat Team (BHCT) personnel, in two watches comprising five personnel along with 12 bore pump action gun.”
“The air station also uses traditional bird scaring means like scarecrows, reflectors and stripes. A bird survey was carried out by Ornithological Cell from DFS Air Force. Implementation of recommendations in a phased manner is in progress to further curb bird menace,” said Joshi.
“Besides, other awareness programmes are also in place in coordination with local bodies and village panchayats.”
Joshi, however admitted that the bird population is high around the Dabolim airport due to demographic and topographic factors.
“Since Dabolim airport is located around the densely populated area and in the vicinity of vicinity of fishing harbour, bird hits remain unavoidable. To curb these bird hits, coordination and cohesive efforts of all agencies are required,” he said.
