Gujarat airport boosts armoury to fight bird hits

Ahmedabad: The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport is all set to upgrade it armoury to battle the feathered menace. To eliminate bird-hit problems, the airport has upgraded the 'zone guns' it procured in 2010 for keeping the sky over the runway free of birds.
The 'zone guns' create a loud shot-like sound to scare away the birds. The volume of the noise and interval between detonations for the guns can be adjusted. The new guns will have more options with the kind of sounds and its reach.
Besides firecrackers, Ahmedabad airport authorities currently use two laser guns costing Rs 1.5 lakh each and seven zone guns, a six-shot launcher and a LPG cylinder-operated device which generates loud noise at regular intervals. It spends Rs 30 lakh annually to check bird hits.
"We have been able to bring down the number of bird hits with the use of the guns and regularly cutting grass and keeping the area around the airport clean. However, the incidents haven't stopped and to manage it effectively we will get six new zone guns from Delhi," said airport officials.
18/01/12 Ankur Jain/Times of India

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Categories: airports Jan 2012