Changi Airport uses remote-controlled cars to prevent bird strikes

Recently, if you could remember recently that an airplane had to land on a sea or some sort of body of water (which name escapes me) was caused by a flock of birds. in mid-air they got caught in the engine on one wing of the plane and consequently had it busted, jeopardizing the lives of the passengers.

Birds are commonly used by some airline companies to represent a wonderful flight with them, but this one definitely contradicts that thought.

Airports utilize a number of procedures to make their runways free from avian danger.
Belowis one of them.



Changi designed to prevent bird strikes
By Karamjit Kaur, Aviation Correspondent



BIRDS do not like Changi Airport. By design there are no fruit trees, no colourful flowers, no long grass, and those that arrive are scared off or shot down.

According to a Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore spokesman, while pilots do occasionally report flying into birds in the vicinity, they 'do not cause significant problems' at Changi Airport.

The RSAF uses devices such as remote-controlled cars with loudspeakers to scare away birds.

Unlike the incident involving a US Airways Airbus A-320 on Jan 15, when bird strikes caused a plane to make a dramatic landing on the Hudson River in New York, Singapore has never had a serious accident caused by birds.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) also uses a number of devices to scare away birds at Singapore's military airports, including remote-controlled toy trucks that broadcast sounds of birds in distress, barking dogs or ear-splitting screams. The birds are startled without being harmed.

Bird strikes usually occur during take-off and landing, although birds can strike even at higher altitudes, said Captain Ajmer Singh, vice-president (technical) of the Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore.

When birds are spotted on the runway, pilots waiting to take off or land will simply wait for them to be cleared.
If that is not possible, the pilot can reduce the speed of the plane.

'At high speeds, the impact of a bird strike can be a lot more serious,' he said.

'Also, the bigger the bird, the greater the impact.'

At cruising altitude, there is little that pilots can do except to stay alert when air traffic controllers and other pilots report seeing birds in the vicinity.

Capt Singh has encountered 10 to 15 bird strikes in his 17-year flying career, but none was serious enough to damage the aircraft or require a turnaround.

'You sometimes see the birds coming or you may hear a loud thud which indicates something has hit the plane,' he said.

'In such cases, the drill is to monitor all systems to ensure no damage has been caused, and to report the matter.'

Bird-strike testing is one of the many tests aircraft are put through by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States to ensure that they are fit to be used commercially.

Once certified, the aircraft are then considered to meet international standards.

US-based aircraft engine maker General Electric is reported to use a variety of bird carcasses to test its engines at its Peebles, Ohio test centre. The dead birds can weigh anything from half a kg to more than 3kg.

Aviation experts have said that bird strikes do not usually lead to serious incidents.

Between 1990 and 2007, civilian pilots reported 79,972 bird strikes to the FAA; eight of the strikes resulted in a total of 11 deaths.



SOURCE : travel.asiaone.com