Bird peril on flight path

The aerial approach to Calcutta airport has become a haven for birds and a hazard for planes because of unregulated growth on the ground and a water body in the vicinity, a survey has revealed.
Officials who conducted the survey blamed eateries that dump waste on the airport periphery, the markets that have sprung up all around and a large water body near the boundary wall for the rise in the avian population and the frequency of bird hits.
The study was conducted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Airports Authority of India after a JetLite aircraft suffered a bird hit last week, the third such incident this year.
According to JetLite sources, the airline took a Rs 50-lakh hit when its plane ran into a bird last Saturday.
“The factors that lead to bird hits cannot be totally eliminated. But the chances of a bird hit can certainly be brought down,” a DGCA official said from New Delhi. A large water body on the southern side of the airport — a few feet away from the boundary wall — also attracts a large number of birds.
The survey team’s findings have been sent to Delhi. “We will write to the municipal authorities to address the problem,” the official said.
Birds are being attracted to the airport not only by waste dumped beyond the boundary wall but also by commercial and construction activity within it. Officials, however, insist that the problems within the airport are temporary.
“We have two canteens on the premises but those are not a threat. What is happening beyond the perimeter is serious. The last bird hit occurred around 400 feet above the ground. At such a height, the crackers that our bird chasers burst on the runway have little effect,” an official said.
The markets and eateries are under the jurisdiction of three civic bodies — Dum Dum, South Dum Dum and Rajarhat-Gopalpur municipalities.
Trees on either side of the approach to the runway are another problem.
Officials of Rajarhat-Gopalpur municipality, under which the major part of the airport falls, claimed that trucks were bringing mounds of garbage from other parts of the city at night and dumping these near the boundary wall.
24/01/09 Sanjay Mandal & Julius Gomes, Soumen Bhattacharjee/The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports Jan 2009, Safety Jan 2009