Twitter
Advertisement

Bird-hits fly high at Mumbai airport, RTI reply reveals it's up by 21%

Between Jan 2008 and July 2018, 205 incidents of birds hitting aircraft reported to DGCA

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Despite several measures being taken at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) to keep birds away from the airfield, the number of bird-hit incidents have gone up over the years, shows Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)'s data accessed by DNA under Right To Information (RTI) Act.

Between January 2008 and July 2018, 205 incidents of birds hitting aircraft at Mumbai airport were reported to DGCA.

Out of these, 205 incidents, 85 were reported between 2008 and 2012 followed by 105 between 2013 and 2017. This also means an increase of around 21  per cent  when  bird  hit data between 2008-2012 is compared  with bird hit data between 2013 to 2017.

Bird-hit or bird-strike at times results in aircraft having to apply emergency brakes on runway of making emergency landing, in case the aircraft is flying. The airlines or airport operator report all suspected or confirmed bird hits to the DGCA.

A DGCA official said, "If we go to see the number of suspected bird-hits, the number might go up but these (205) incidents are confirmed bird-hits reported on the airfield of Mumbai airport between January 2008 and July 2018."

Several measures have been taken for bird-scaring or controlling their movement above the airfield from having a dedicated team for tracking wildlife movement to usage of crackers, and that of having noise of loud explosives being played on speakers to scare birds.

Apart from bird-hits, wildlife-hit or animal-hit at the runway is also another challenge. There were three wildlife-hits reported at Mumbai airport between January 2008 and July 2018. "In one case, it was a dog, and in another, it was rabbit. There are dedicated wildlife chasing teams at the airfield but such incidents occur despite this," said the official.

When contacted, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) in an email: "Being the Airport Operator, MIAL Wildlife Hazard Management is putting best foot forward to minimize bird strikes at Mumbai Airport and to make the Airport safer for flying. Over and above to all the precautions taken by MIAL inside as well as outside airport there is a possibility of bird strikes due increase in flight movement. If we compare the flight movement in 2018, there is a tremendous growth of aircraft movement, making the runway busier in compare to year 2008."

Meanwhile, aircraft movements  has  doubled in the last ten years. As of today, Mumbai Airport easily witnesses more than 940 aircraft movements in one particular day. In case of passenger traffic, Mumbai Airport handled 48.50 million passengers in 2017-18 compared to 22.25 million passengers in 2006-07.

IT'S CSMIA NOW

  • A resolution was passed in the Maharashtra Assembly stating CSIA has been now rechristened as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA). Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu tweeted that a long-pending demand has been fulfilled.
  •  
Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement