Dogs on runways are here to stay

India has no system in place to keep strays away from airports

BANGALORE: If you thought dogs, foxes and jackals holding up flights on runways was a thing of the past, here’s a wake-up call. Thursday afternoon’s incident in Bangalore, in which the Kingfisher flight IT-2427 was obstructed by a dog on  runway, breaking its nose wheel, once again raises questions about passenger safety at Indian airports. 

“We witness at least one incident of dog straying on runway every month,” says an airport official in Mumbai. “Dogs on runway keep aircraft flying in circles over the airport for at least 30 minutes. The polluted Mithi river nearby and garbage dumps attract these dogs,” he adds.

Recently, a pilot witnessed a dog giving birth to three puppies by the side of runway 27 on a taxiway at Mumbai International Airport. “I cannot roll the aircraft on this taxiway and take-off because there is a dog delivering pups in front,” he told the air traffic control tower (ATC).

However, the incidence of animals holding up flights has come down to once a month from once a week a year ago,” an air traffic control official said. Mumbai International Airport Limited (Mial) has appointed a contractor to catch dogs and hand them over to the municipal corporation. Over 70 strays have been caught in the last four months, a Mial spokesperson said, adding, “As of now, we don‘t have a permanent solution to the dog menace.”

However, a tender has been floated to install a surface-movement radar (SMR) at Mumbai Airport, which will become only the second airport in the country to have an SMR after Delhi. “The SMR, though helps detect aircraft on the airside and facilitates roll and take-off during fog and rain, does not detect small objects such as dogs, cattle or birds on runway,” an ATC official said. 

“The menace at metro airports is less as steps are taken to keep birds, dogs, cattle and other irritants at bay. But dogs are a real danger at small airports where there are no full-time bird-chasers. There is no way we can permanently prevent obstructions on the airside,” an airport official said.

Though the Bangalore airport has witnessed similar incidents in the past too, none was as grave as Thursday’s. “We usually witness at least two cases of dogs running across or lazing on or near runway,” an official said.
 
“There are dogs loitering at the terminal side and it is scary to imagine what they are capable of doing. In fact, several of them are diseased too,” said Bangalore Airport director Narendra Kaushal.

Bangalore airport authorities have dashed off letters to the Brihat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike regarding the dog menace. “There are bird-chasers, but only daytime,” Kaushal said.

k_bhargavi@dnaindia.net