Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Airlines need to design radars that can spot animals on the runways


The time has come for airlines to wake up to the need to design special radars that can detect animals roaming on runways – this need has arisen subsequent to the incident of a buffalo on Surat runway that crashed into a SpiceJet aircraft during takeoff.
Due to that recent incident, the Directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has listed out 18 airports where "wildlife hazard" is the worst – the list includes all the six metros. Five of the most vulnerable are airports at Udaipur, Cochin, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Nagpur.
Aircraft has become an indispensable means of communication in today’s world and safety of an aircraft is always uppermost in the minds of all airline operators. While technical faults, if observed in time, can be rectified on the ground before take-off, accidents like collision on ground with animals are unforeseen events. Once that happens, not only the airline suffers bit also the passengers. The reason is obvious – such unpredictable happenings would throw complete one’s plans totally haywire and lead to avoidable problems like delays.
Incidentally, in India, the awareness is missing that airports need to be protected not only from infiltration by terrorists but also from infiltration of cattle that enter through convenient openings in the boundary walls to graze on the abundance of greenery that surround the airport.
Another danger to aircraft in the vicinity of airports is the bird menace – abattoirs near airports or open markets are absolute no-no because they attract birds and birds, if ingested into the engines of jet aircraft, can lead to disaster. Tiny sparrows are known to have destroyed huge aircraft leading to loss of lives and property.
There is an Aircraft Act, 1934 that prohibits any slaughtering or flaying of animals or dumping garbage in a way which could attract animals and birds within a 10-km radius of airports. However, it seems this is very seldom flowed leading to such hazards.

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