ASSESSMENT OF MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES OF THE BIRD HAZARDS TO AIRCRAFT IN SELECT INDIAN AIR FORCE AIRFIELDS

Abstract

Bird Strike to aircraft is a serious aviation safety concern. Many aircraft and lives of pilots have been lost the past due to this hazard. In addition, airlines incur huge amounts of money to repair the damages caused by the birds. They also lose financially due to delayed departures in addition to the inconvenience to the passengers. Considering these aspects, efforts are mad to mitigate the problem through various means. These mitigation measures include simple measures like scaring away of birds using crackers to high end measures such as deploying bird detection radars. Each of these means has its strengths and limitations and its exact efficacy is not well documented. The birds are the natural occupants of air. They have been in the air for nearly 150 million years. The human created aircraft are just about 120 years old. Hence, the birds have a right to live in the air. However, there is a need to look for ways and means to co-exist without conflict. To create such a situation, there is a need to understand the bird community and its activity over each of the airfield and its surroundings. Hence, while designing methods to mitigate bird strike hazard is an inescapable requirement. Considering these requirements, five different studies were carried out by selecting twenty one Indian Air Force airfields/ its surroundings.