Dhaka airport ill-equipped for bird strikes

We are alarmed by the lack of preparedness to prevent bird strikes at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka, as revealed by a report by The Daily Star on Friday. According to the report, the central airport in the country is ill-prepared for such strikes which may cause flight cancellations, minor to heavy damage to an aircraft's structure leading to costly repairs, and in rare instances, loss of life due to crash landing. HSIA's bird control system is rudimentary at best. It relies on only two guns for the purpose. Four other guns remain out of order. The two automated bird deterrents installed on the runway, one using laser beams and the other using sound signals, have been out of service for more than seven years. Given the threats bird collision poses to aircrafts, this level of preparedness is far from adequate.   

Airport authorities globally allocate significant resources to drive birds away from key aviation installations. This is because while a bird strike can occur anytime during a flight, it nearly always happens during take-off and landing. The severity of damage to an aircraft depends on the size and number of birds or the ferocity of collisions. Jet engines are particularly vulnerable to such incidents, leading to a loss of thrust following the ingestion of the bird. But the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) seems to be indifferent to the danger. At HSIA alone, at least 20 aircrafts of Biman suffered bird strikes in 2019; other airliners also suffered similar accidents, although the airport authorities couldn't give an exact number. One can assume that the cumulative costs of aircraft repairs and flight cancellations caused every year will far outweigh the cost of installing a modern system that can automatically detect and deter birds. Why CAAB still hasn't installed one is a mystery to us.

Bird strikes are a fairly common occurrence in airports around the country. In order for any collision prevention policy to be effective, aviation experts suggest a combination of measures using both modern and conventional methods (since when you follow one specific method to drive away birds, it does not work after some days as birds usually adapt to it). Experts think CAAB should also take measures to encourage birds to seek alternative nesting and feeding grounds by removing food sources such as seed-bearing plants and food sources for the insects that birds eat, covering nearby ponds with netting to prevent birds from landing, and clearing bushes and trees that offer attractive nesting sites. The aviation authorities must adequately respond to the danger bird strikes pose and take all necessary measures to ensure flight safety in our airports.