Falcons to tackle bird menace at airport proposed

Jaipur: The forced landing of US Airways Flight (1549) on the Hudson river in New York, somedays ago, could have been avoided if the US airport authority stationed trained falcons to check the birds' movements, according to Shahid Khan, a 50-year-old jeweller and the only Indian who has a licence to train falcons.
Khan had sent a proposal to the civil aviation ministry, providing a fool-proof solution to reduce the bird-hits in the country. He offered to train falcons to make rounds around the airport, minutes before the landing and take-off, to scare away the birds. "It creates a panic among the other birds. While flying, birds generates a sound in the sky, which prohibits other birds to fly in the region," added Khan.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) had realized the importance of biological methods to reduce the movements of birds a decade ago, when their modern methods failed to prevent bird-hits. The additional principal chief wildlife warden had urged the Union ministry of forest and environment to grant permission two individuals, Shahid Khan and Shantanu Kumar, to capture falcons and train them in 1999. Khan has also demonstrated the impact of the falcon's presence in reducing aircraft damage in his report to the aviation ministry, time and again.
Anuj Agarwal, airport director of Jaipur, agreed that the birds get used to the man-made tactics, which makes them ineffective after a period of time.
There has been five major and 20 minor bird-hits reported at Jaipur airport last year. Every bird-hit causes severe financial damages to the airline company. "Nearly 80% of bird-hits have been reduced at the airports which had adopted the falcon solution", claimed Khan.
21/01/09 Shoeb Khan/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jan 2009, New Jan 2009, Safety Jan 2009