Minister misinformed about stray menace at Nagpur airport

Nagpur: Despite seven cases of wild animals of straying onto the runway of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in 2011 between January and December 3, it seems that Nagpur airport authorities have underreported the incidents to higher authorities.
On Wednesday, aviation minister Vyalar Ravi informed Lok Sabha that only four instances of animals straying on the runway at Nagpur airport. These include an Air India flight that missed the approach due to the presence of a jackal on the runway, a deer hit by a Jetlite flight, an Air India flight that was affected when it hit two pigs on the runway and again an Air India flight that hit a deer. The last two incidents took place in June.
However, records show that pilots have had to delay take offs or abort landings seven times due to straying of animals on the runway since January 2011.
Records also show that pilots have had to delay take offs or abort landings for 31 times in last five years since 2007 after seeing animals on the runway. In 17 of these cases, of which four occurred in the last 11 months, major disasters were averted as animals like deer and pigs actually hit the aircraft.
09/12/11 Sachin Dravekar/Times of India

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Categories: airports Dec 2011, Safety Dec 2011