Unusual bird activity poses threat to flight movements at Pune airport

Time of India

5 hours ago

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Pune: An unusual presence of birds sighted in the airspace and near the runway at Lohegaon airport on June 5 forced the air traffic control to divert a Pune-bound IndiGo flight from Delhi to Surat minutes before touchdown.
On May 20, it was a nightmare for passengers on board a Hyderabad-bound IndiGo aircraft as they were made to sit for six hours while the ATC was waiting for the runway to be cleared of winged guests and also to allow some defence-related work to complete before signalling a take-off.
Two incidents in two months paint a grim picture of the aircraft's growing vulnerability to unusual bird movements.
Aviation experts have blamed the mushrooming eateries, commercial establishments, and high-rises surrounding the Pune airport compound, part of an Indian Air Force (IAF) base, and the unattended piles of garbage on their premises for the increasing bird activity.
"Permission for constructions could be according to norms, but additional storeys are coming up and monitoring is minimal. Lohegaon is a frontline IAF base set up during the second world war and was once secluded. It is only during operations such as Sindoor that one realises the importance of these bases," Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (retired) said, adding that the focus should be on developing the new airport in Purandar.
Former airport director Deepak Shastri said no concrete steps are being taken to control encroachments and constructions around the airport. "There is an aerodrome environment management committee consisting of all stakeholders including the civic body. It has to meet periodically and find solutions to problems like garbage. The airport authorities need to tell us when the last meeting was held and what came out of that meeting?"
These bird-related incidents might not be happening due to construction activities but because of improper garbage management by the establishments in and around the airport including in Vimannagar, said PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram.
"The issue has come to my attention and I am going to hold a meeting soon to find out what more can be done to control the problem."
Sandip Kadam, head of PMC's waste management department, however, claimed that garbage is lifted every day, and the focus is to ensure that it does not get accumulated. "An awareness campaign to sensitise people not to throw leftover foods in open areas near the airport will soon be undertaken," he said.
Ornithologist Satish Pande, founder of Ela Foundation, told TOI that scavenging birds like crows, pigeons, kites and herons fly low and they run into a flight approaching an airport. "Many of the Indian airports, including in Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata, are surrounded by human habitation. We all know that garbage collection is a problem, and they lure these birds. Nowadays, aircraft engines are designed to ingest a bird up to a certain size, but a flock can cause serious damage," he said.
Captain Arpit Manshani, who flies airplanes and choppers, said bird hits can range from no impact to bringing down a huge jet in the Hudson (in 2009).
"We need to understand if the bird hit was big or small; where it hit — windshield, engine intake, rotor blade of helicopter or wing of airplane. Was it a flock of birds or just a single? What phase of flight were you in? Did it happen during take-off, landing, or cruising? What is the extent of damage — can you see it physically, did you hear an unusual sound, or any of the flight parameters is off.
The critical thing is decision making by the pilots — from being vigilant about birds to avoiding them at the last second to taking right action after analysing the strike," he said.
The IAF campus is spread over 3,200 acres and the perimeter wall is shared by Lohegaon and Wagholi areas. Last week's flight diversion prompted the IAF, which manages the runway and the ATC tower, to set up a bird-scraping squad among a series of measures.
However, ornithologist Pande said one needs to take wildlife hazard management seriously. "There are high rises near airports and pigeons naturally perceive them as their nesting sites. Unfortunately, authorities take a casual approach while hiring people to mitigate the bird menace."
Pune airport director Santosh Dhoke said, "The runway is managed by the IAF and they have been taking measures to keep it clear of bird movements.
We are constantly coordinating with the PMC regarding different issues related to keeping the areas near the airport compound clean."
A study published by Salim Ali Centre for Orthinology and Natural History on 'Best Practices for the Mitigation of the Hazards Posed by Birds to Aircraft' has recommended that buildings near airports be covered with bird proofing barriers. Sewerage treatment plants or open canals passing through the airfield should be completely covered, and water flows associated with irrigation and open stagnant water should be prevented.
Feeding of birds by people within a two-km radius of the airport should be discouraged, the report said.