Daily Times

KARACHI: To avert the possibility of birds hitting an aircraft when it is taking off or landing at Karachi Airport and also Air Force aerodromes, Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan (CAAP) has held a meeting to avert off this menace.

A meeting under the chair of Nisar Brohi, Manager Karachi CAA being attended by the from Commissioner Karachi, Mayor Karachi, Solid Waste Management Authority, Deputy Commissioners Korangi, Malir District Municipal Corporation besides chairman Korangi District Municipal Corporation have discussed at length the danger of accumulation of food leftovers in heaps and water accumulation with the radius of 10-kilometers of airports.

The agenda of the meeting comprised of the removal of heaps of garbage and also draining out accumulated water within 10-km area surroundings airports besides taking action against the use of laser toy-guns by children within the said limits.

The meeting observed that stagnant sewage and leaking of water supply pipelines as well as food leftovers are feeding points for birds.

There have been instances of birds colliding on the wings, nose cone and also the tail, but the maximum danger to the aircraft would be if the bird is sucked into the jet engine of the aircraft. Such an event could be particularly dangerous as the bird could impact an engine blade, displacing it into the path of another blade and so on.

The participants of the meeting were of the opinion that a laser device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation can be dangerous for aircrafts on way to taking off or landing.

This was mentioned in the meeting that around 19 such incidents have had happened in past in which millions of rupees damage occurs to aircrafts.

Pakistan Air Force Masroor and Faisal Base had in past lodged complaints with CAA for taking appropriate measures to get rid of from birds.

Besides Air Force authorities have also registered complaints with commissioner, deputy commissions and DMC offices to keep clean their respective areas within airports from heap of garbage.

The participants asked the city civil authorities to keep a look for the laser toy-guns with the 10-km limit of airports.

The wedding halls within the airports vicinities should also be asked not to throw away food-scrap on open land.

Moreover it was observed that during Eid-ul-Azha sacrificial animals, their offal and other food materials should not be put on open spaces. This is the sheer responsibility of concerned DMCs to dispose them off.

However, most modern jet engines have the provision for safely shutting down a damaged engine in case of a bird-strike, till they could land. Even after these modifications in jet engines, danger to aircraft always lies and one cannot predict what would happen in case of a bird-strike.