Battling bird hits, DGCA serves guidelines to airlines
By Sanjay Singh
New Delhi, October 31: On Friday, the Bengaluru-London British Airways flight, which had Queen Camila onboard, was hit by bird hit. The airlines in India and also abroad face the challenges of bird hits, leaving their noses damaged with the impact.
India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has issued guidelines to carry out regular patrols to check on animals, birds, or any wildlife activity around the airport premises. The norms prohibit any activity in the vicinity of the airports which may attract birds.
The aviation authority has also directed the airlines to identify the gaps and strictly implement the required regulations in the aerodrome’s vicinity. The DGCA has asked the airports to carry out a wildlife risk assessment and rank them according to the risk posed to aircraft.
Besides this, the DGCA wants airlines to carry out routine patrols in random patterns and informing pilots whenever there is any wildlife activity. Queen Camila along with other passengers safely landed at the Heathrow Airport. Aircraft getting hit by birds are not uncommon. Many flights are forced to turn back after a bird strike, concerning the safety of passengers and pilots in an aircraft. Incidentally. India has been witnessing a rise in the number of such unforeseen events.
On October 27, Akasa Air flight to Delhi was hit by a bird during the climb-out. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, operated by the recently launched budget carrier Akasa Air, suffered a radome damage due to the bird hit at around 2000 feet, according to DGCA.
“Akasa B-737-8(Max) aircraft VT-YAF operating flight QP-1333 (Ahmedabad-Delhi) experienced a bird strike during the climb out passing 1900 feet, post landing at Delhi. Radom damage was observed. Aircraft declared AOG (Aircraft on ground) at Delhi,” DGCA said.
Akasa Air’s first commercial flight was flagged off on August 7, this year. In August this year, a Go First flight from Ahmedabad to Chandigarh was forced to return to Ahmedabad after suffering a bird hit. The aircraft suffered a bird hit soon after take-off. On June 19, an engine on a SpiceJet Delhi-bound aircraft carrying 185 passengers caught fire soon after it took off from the Patna airport and the plane made an emergency landing minutes later. The engine malfunctioned because of a bird hit.
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