KARACHI, Jan 11: Speakers at a seminar stressed that areas around airfields should be kept clean and free of garbage to avoid costly accidents caused by birds striking aircraft, adding that approximately 60 incidents of such ‘bird strikes’ occurred in the country annually.

Speakers at the seminar on ‘Bird Animal Hazards’ organized here by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Friday said that garbage, particularly leftover food, attracted vultures and other scavenging birds which, when flying in the airport’s flight path, increased the risks of birds striking aircraft. They said on average, a bird strike cost approximately $40,000.

They said that the bird strike-related loss to the airline industry worldwide annually stood at approximately $12 billion as well as causing a considerable loss of life, both of which could be minimized if preventive steps like keeping the vicinity of airports garbage free were adopted.

The CAA’s AVM Sajid Habib said that bird strike had now become a major economic as well as social issue as it affected passengers, flight crews, airlines, aircraft and engine manufacturers, airport management and local as well provincial governments, adding that the menace could only be solved when all the major stakeholders made joint efforts.

He urged people living in the vicinity of airports as well as commercial establishments like marriage halls nearby not to throw their leftover food in the open garbage dumps as it attracted birds, which in turn posed threats to aircraft.

He said that scientifically handled bird control measures could reduce the risk factor to an acceptable level, adding that efforts were also being made to comply with all the safety standards prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on the issue.

The CAA’s calibration chief, Abbas Petiwala, said that efforts were being made to streamline land use in the vicinity of airports and to create awareness among the masses and civic agencies so that the bird strike menace and related environmental issues around airfields could be solved with joint efforts.

‘Killing birds not the answer’

Civil Aviation Training Institute chief Mujahid Islam suggested that killing the birds in the vicinity of airports was not the solution as he cited the example of China, where all the birds in the vicinity of an airport were killed and it affected the crops in the surrounding area, as the pests in the agricultural fields, which earlier used to be consumed by these scavenging birds, had no predator left so their growth increased, as did their capacity to harm the crops.

He suggested that a bird repellent system using noise could be employed, which was low cost and low maintenance. “The birds would not be killed and would be repelled and shift to other places away from the airports,” he added.

PIA’s Col (retd) Mansoor gave the bird strike related data of his airline and also said that basically it was the CAA’s responsibility to check the bird menace; however, the airline could provide some assistance if asked by the authority. Col (retd) Shaukat Ibrahim of a private airline, giving data of incidents involving his airline, cited an incident that occurred at the federal capital, with the cost of aircraft repair coming to approximately $100,000. He said that the bird strike threat during night should also be addressed.

City government representative Mr Jehangir said that efforts would be made to keep the areas in the vicinity of airports free from garbage, particularly foodstuffs. He also urged people not to throw leftover food in the open, but to dispose it of properly so that it did not attract birds, which would threaten air traffic.

It is worth recalling that some time back, the PAF, which had also lost a few of its aircraft due to bird strikes, had urged the masses and the civic agencies to keep the areas in the vicinity of airfields clean so that they did not attract birds.