The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has reported 93 fowl strike incidents throughout airports within the nation within the first six months of 2022.
Azike Edozie, Head Chook/Wildlife Hazard Management NCAA disclosed this whereas talking at a workshop organized by Search and Rescue Mission of the Nigerian Airspace Administration Company (NAMA) on Wednesday.
In response to Edozie, 60 p.c or 54 of the fowl strikes incidents was recorded on the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) in Lagos.
He mentioned: ”My document reveals that now we have had not less than 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 overall occurrences.
”All of us must proffer an answer to this menace and I do hope now we have a long-lasting answer to it as a result of everybody, particularly the airways are dropping cash.”
Edozie, nonetheless, mentioned that the duty of protecting the airspace protected from fowl incidents lied with each stakeholder within the trade, together with airline operators, safety companies and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
He expressed hope that the respective companies would discover a lasting answer to the menace quickly, decrying that airways had been dropping tens of millions of {dollars} to the incident yearly.
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.
Adetutu defined that FAAN because the airport landlord was doing its greatest to curb the unfold of the incident by the procurement of recent gear, which he mentioned had gone an extended technique to scale back its impacts.
He additionally blamed among the pilots for the excessive fowl strike charges within the trade, stressing that among the pilots had been at all times in a rush to depart an airport for the opposite and violate the directions of Air Site visitors Controllers (ATC) and insisted that it was essential for the airways and their pilots to even have a change of tradition by adhering to the directions issued by ATCs.
Learn additionally: Nigerian airports recorded 5.3m passengers in six months – NBS
In response to 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 provides clearance for pilots to depart or land, it’s essential 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 atmosphere that carry birds to the airport atmosphere. We now have water, shelter and meals across the airports. Runway ought to be freed from actions at take off and touchdown.”
“Aside from birds, we even have wildlife animals, that are additionally strikes. We hope to suggest on mitigation with a view to deal with it. We additionally must know the actions of birds too. Statistics that was given earlier signifies that 93 fowl incidents had been recorded as at September 17, 2022, however 32 of this occurred in simply two months,” he said.
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