Bird hit: Airlines fume over AAI’s failure

Chennai: Birds and aviation safety do not make the best of partners and there’s reason enough. On Monday, a Jet Airways flight from Chennai to Kolkata did a U-turn after taking off for its destination at 7.45am. The pilot found errorneous readings on his instrument and had to return the flight in an emergency after having touched 2,000 feet as his aircraft had been hit by a bird leading to engine damage.
More than five incidents of bird hit have come to notice at the Chennai Airport and other airports in the southern region.
Another Jet flight from Hyderabad to Chennai was recently hit by a bird on its approach, causing considerable delay to the flight — this was the fourth such incident that Jet alone had reported in the last one week. Last Saturday, a Spicejet aircraft was grounded in Madurai after being hit by a bird, leaving passengers in Chennai fuming as the same aircraft was supposed to take them to Delhi and the airline had no alternative options. Kingfisher reported two incidents of bird hit in the last 10 days and Etihad Airline reported a similar complaint on October 4. Kingfisher had reported three more such incidents in September.
When the issue was raked up at the runway safety committee meeting that took place on Thursday at the Chennai Airport, AAI officials were on the defensive.
“We have been doing the needful at the airport.
Even field visits in the airport vicinity have been increased from once a year to once in six months,” an airport official said. However, Airline operators feel that this is not enough.
15/10/10 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz

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Categories: airports Oct 2010, Safety Oct 2010