Several bird strikes raise questions on ability for hazard control

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

Bird strikes, especially at the crucial time of takeoff and landing, are considered a major aviation hazard, not only inflicting costly repairs to engines but also endangering the lives of crew and pa

Bird strikes, especially at the crucial time of takeoff and landing, are considered a major aviation hazard, not only inflicting costly repairs to engines but also endangering the lives of crew and passengers onboard. While pilots are trained to deal with situations when an engine has to be shut down and return to the airport after losing thrust due to a bird ingestion, nevertheless anxious moments lay ahead from the time the engine has to be shut down and the eventual touchdown and safe return to the ground.

The down time for the aircraft though, especially for a smaller operator without the luxury of having a plane on standby, is then bound to create havoc with schedules as, with an aircraft undergoing an engine change, it will be out of service for as long as it takes to get a new engine on site and fit it, leaving passengers exasperated, agitated, and often outright angry at the airlineโ€™s staff, not knowing that it was actually the handiwork of the airport authority responsible for the incident which then prompted the delays.

Airports located in a bird-rich environment would ordinarily have well-laid-out work plans for hazard control, i.e., chasing the birds away to prevent aircraft colliding with them. That involves vehicle patrols, firing blanks, and putting up visual deterrents among other measures, all aimed to spare their clients, i.e., the airlines, the expense and agony over damage, downtime, and delays.

Several bird strikes on Fastjet aircraft in recent months in Dar and Mwanza, and in fact again last weekend in Dar es Salaam, have raised the question of just how effective the measures put into place by the Tanzania Airport Authority are, as the frequency of such incidents is just too high, and in the words of an airline official โ€œalarming,โ€ showing the urgency to get a handle on the problem and prevent yet more such incidents in the future before more serious consequences happen.

Readers may well remember the January 16, 2009 incident involving a US Airways aircraft, which encountered a flock of birds, ingested several of them into the two engines and had to ditch on the Hudson River after the loss of thrust, thankfully and largely due to the skillful flying by the pilots, with no loss of lives.

โ€œBirdstrikes can happen even if you have a very rigorous regime of hazard control. We in Entebbe have a very bird rich environment because of Lake Victoria and the wetlands near the airport. We keep our grass low, almost like a lawn, to make sure birds can be seen and not hide in high grass and then suddenly fly into the path of a departing or arriving aircraft. But there are many measures we use to keep birds away or chase them away, because when a bird or birds collide with an aircraft there is always a high risk involved. Besides the risk, it is the damage to the aircraft and the damage, if it happens too often, to our reputation as a safe airport. Airlines do not like to fly to places where they hear other airlines have a lot of issues with bird strikes. Airlines can insure against such damage, but the problem always is that an aircraft is out of service while it undergoes repairs, and that disrupts schedules. I donโ€™t want to comment about what other airports in the region do; we all have our challenges and problems to deal with, but if it is true as you say that one airline alone had several in a row, then that is something that airport has to answer for,โ€ commented a source at Entebbe International Airport but on condition of anonymity.

Fastjet presently operates a fleet of three Airbus A319 – two in livery and one more recently leased but not yet repainted – after one of the three liveried aircraft was returned to the lessor after the expiry of the lease. Subsequently, having one of those three aircraft down for an engine change inevitably affects the flight schedules, as it also does with other larger airlines.

The question now on everyoneโ€™s mind is what exactly the Tanzania Airport Authority officials in charge of hazard control are going to do to reduce this unacceptable frequency of such incidents and what compensation they are offering to the affected airline.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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