Safety: Evaluating risks of bird strike

Bird strike has become a major threat to air safety globally. In Nigeria, it is causing operators serious pain and a huge risk, writes WOLE SHADARE

Encroachment

As man continues to encroach on the natural habitat of the arboreal (birds and other wildlife), problems like aircraft bird strikes continue to aggravate as air traffic volume increases. In Nigeria, the menace of bird strike is on the increase despite efforts by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to combat it with huge investment. It is, therefore, recommended that “Bird Strike Avoidance Radar” equipment that will alert the control tower, which will in turn alert the pilot of the presence of birds along his way, be installed in major airports in the country.

Monumental loss, tragedy

The frequent incidents have put the total losses incurred by domestic airline operators in Nigeria at over N5 billion annually from various airports across the country.

Investigation shows that bird strike incidents usually affect the engines of aircraft, which costs about $1 million to replace, depending on the type and capacity of the aircraft involved in the incident.

This is apart from the cost of shipping the engine into the country.

There are said to be at least 10 bird strike incidents, affecting Nigerian carriers yearly in the aviation industry.

Virtually all models of air planes including the classics and NextGen operating in the country had been affected by bird strikes.

Further investigation indicated that in the last 22 months, there have been at least 30 bird strike incidents in the industry; 19 on take-off and another 18 on landing, and half of these incidents took place at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, (MMA), Lagos.

Although, no accident has been recorded in Nigeria as a result of bird strike, not less than 210 people have been killed worldwide due to bird-strikes with aircraft, since 1988.

The worst bird strike in the aviation history occurred in 1960 when an Eastern Airlines propeller driven Lockheed L-188 Electra crashed into the sea while attempting to take off from Logan Airport.

Sixty-two people tragically lost their lives, with only 10 people surviving, after a flock of up to 20,000 starlings suddenly flew into the path of the aircraft, and hundreds of the birds were ingested into the engines.

Consequently, two of the four engines lost power, a third flamed-out resulting in a quick crash.

Close shave with death

Bird-strikes to aircraft result in some $610 million in damage a year globally. Five jet-airliners have had major accidents involving bird-strikes since 1975. Experts estimate that only about 20 percent of all bird strikes are reported.

On September 27,  2017,  an  Air  Asia  Flight  from  Medan,  Indonesia to Penang was forced to return to Medan after a bird  was sucked  into one  of  its engines.  The airliner was carrying 150   passengers.

There were a couple more such incidents reported in Malaysia in 2016 and 2017. On January 15, 2009, a US Airways jet  hit a  flock  of  geese shortly after  it  took off from LaGuardia  Airport  in  New York and  was  forced  to  land in the Hudson River.

Reports indicated no deaths, nor serious injuries. The birds were sucked into both engines causing   the engines to fail.  The 112,815 who reported bird and wildlife strikes in the last 20 years may not have seriously considered the damages that could result.

Additionally, the actual number of strikes is probably much larger; experts estimate that about 80 percent of them go unreported.  If this estimate  is  accurate, in  20  years  there  may  have  been  more  than  500,000  strikes.

Fatalities

Bird and wildlife strikes can  be serious  and  have  resulted  in more than 350  fatalities .The threat  of  bird-strikes  became  more  serious in  the  1950s when  the  aviation-industry  began  using gas  turbines  for  power.  Then, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began testing    the engines for bird ingestion capabilities.

The engines are able to ingest about three small birds (one and one-half pounds) or one medium   bird (two and one-half pounds) without failing.  The FAA currently considers a large bird to weigh   more than four pounds.  There  is  no  aircraft  engine certified  to  ingest  a  large  bird  without  shutting  down.

With  increased  air traffic,  and  rising  bird-populations,  such  threat  is becoming more  serious.

In Civil  Aviation  alone  till  1974,  130 deaths  had been  reported worldwide  to  the International  Civil  Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Due  to  the  voluntary  nature  of  civil  aviation bird–strike  reporting,  a  great deal  of  under reporting happens, occurs, especially  for  minor  bird  strikes.

Conservative  estimates  suggest  that  more routine  damage  and  delays  following  bird-strikes  cost the industry  and  its  insurers  $1.2-1.5  billion  per  year.

Experts’ views

Speaking on the issue in an interview with our correspondent, a pilot with one of the leading airlines, who preferred anonymity, said that Nigerian airlines lose billions of naira to bird strike incidents annually.

He, however, regretted that despite the huge loss, FAAN, with its Department of Wildlife Control, had not adopted modern technology to reduce the threat in any of the nation’s airports.

He explained that in order to control the assault on aircraft, government must identify species of birds that create the problems for airlines, those things that attract birds to the airport and acquire modern equipment that would reduce their activities at the nation’s airports.

He noted that of all the airports in the country, only very few have been able to control bird activities with the acquisition of equipment, which sends away birds around the path of aircraft.

He urged FAAN to take a cue from the Uyo Airport management in order to improve safety to aircraft and other equipment at the airside.

His words: “No attempt has ever been made to avert this hazard in the country. Our approach to the menace has to be forensic because you need to know the kinds of birds that are coming around.

“When that is established, you need to know what attracts them. It is so deep and a lot of people who work in wildlife here just scratch the surface. They are not helping the airlines.

“The airlines are losing millions of dollars. Like the one that happened to us recently before the last one, it cost us about $1.5 million dollars to replace an engine and once you have a bird injection, the first thing you get flying an air plane is the smoke like roasted chicken. Once you get that, you have to come down because you actually don’t know the extent of the damage.”

Another source close to one of the airlines, who didn’t want his name in print, also said that a typical bird strike could affect the aircraft, which costs about $400,000 to replace, windscreen, $10,000 and also the airframe of an aircraft.

Efforts have been made to understand bird-behaviour, and bird-migration. Many factors, including climate, airport surroundings,  and  airport  location  in  relation  to  migratory pathways,  play  a  part  in  bird  strike  rates.

Last line

Although these aviation hazards are less severe than loss of control during flight or runway excursions, the matter should not be left aside. Every single collision with a bird poses serious risks not only to financial stability of the aircraft owner, but also to general aviation safety.

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