No fewer than 93 fowl strike incidents have occurred throughout Nigerian airports within the first half of 2022.
Out of the quantity, 54 of such fowl strike incidents occurred on the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos alone.
Talking on the the workshop organised by the Search and Rescue Mission of the Nigerian Airspace Administration Company (NAMA) on Wednesday in Lagos, Azike Edozie, Head Chook/Wildlife Hazard Management, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), decried the excessive incidents arising from fowl strike incidents within the trade.
Edozie nevertheless mentioned that the duty of preserving the airspace protected from birds incidents lied with each stakeholders within the trade, together with airline operators, safety businesses and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
He expressed hope that the respective businesses would discover a lasting answer to the menace quickly, decrying that airways have been shedding million of {dollars} to the incident yearly.
He mentioned: ”My file reveals that we’ve got had at the least 93 fowl strike incidents in all our airports between January this yr to June. And out of this quantity, 54 of it occurred in Lagos Airport alone, which represents about 70 per cent of the whole occurrences.
”All of us should proffer an answer to this menace and I do hope we’ve got a long-lasting answer to it as a result of everybody, particularly the airways are shedding cash.”
Additionally, Adetunji Adetutu, Head of Unit, Chook Management, FAAN, Murtala Muhammed Worldwide Airport (MMIA), Lagos in his presentation identified that no airline was immune from the incident of fowl strikes.
Learn additionally: 4 individuals arrested every day for breaching Lagos airport safety – FAAN
Adetutu defined that FAAN because the airport landlord was doing its finest to curb the unfold of the incident by the procurement of contemporary gear, which he mentioned had gone a protracted method to cut back its impacts.
He additionally blamed among the pilots for the excessive fowl strike charges within the trade, stressing that among the pilots have been at all times in a rush to depart an airport for the opposite and violate the directions of Air Site visitors Controllers (ATC)
Insisted that it was needed for the airways and their pilots to even have a change of tradition by adhering to the directions issued by ATCs.
In line with him, 98 per cent of fowl strike incidents occurred on the airports, particularly when taking off and touchdown.
He mentioned: ”The ultimate say on what occurs to the plane lies with the pilots. Till the ATC offers clearance for pilots to depart or land, it’s needed for pilots to hearken to their recommendation.
”Airline operators ought to have a change of tradition on how we stock out our duties. It’s the suitability of the setting that convey birds to the airport setting. We now have water, shelter and meals across the airports. Runway ought to be freed from actions at take off and touchdown.”
He emphased additional that a lot of the birds that trigger havoc on the airports migrate from different continents to Africa at a specific time of the season.
Additionally, Olanrewaju Iwalaye, Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator, NAMA, mentioned it was needed for all stakeholders to curb the the actinides of fowl strike incidents on the airport with the procurement of superior gear.
Iwalaye, nevertheless, noticed that FAAN had in latest instances improved with the procured of apparatus to scale back the incident.
He added that the identical programme was concurrently occurring in all the main airports throughout the nation, together with the Port Harcourt Worldwide Airport (PHIA), Omagwa, Aminu Kano Worldwide Airport (AKIA), Kano and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Worldwide Airport (NAIA), Port Harcourt.
‘We have to discover a method to deal with this problem. Birds are of their pure habitant and most of our airports are constructed near the forest.
“Aside from birds, we even have wildlife animals, that are additionally strikes. We hope to suggest on mitigation with the intention to deal with it. We additionally must know the actions of birds too. Statistics that was given earlier signifies that 93 fowl incidents have been recorded as at September 17, 2022, however 32 of this occurred in simply two months.”
