The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has reported 92 bird strike incidents across the country’s airports between January and June 2022.
The head, bird/wildlife hazard control at the agency, Mr. Azike Edozie disclosed this at the search and rescue mission exercise of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) held yesterday in Lagos.
Edozie who decried the incidence of wildlife interference in aviation activities said Lagos Airport recorded 54 incidents adding that airlines lose millions of dollars to bird strikes annually.
He said the responsibility of keeping the airspace safe from bird strikes is responsibility of all the stakeholders in the industry, including the airline operators and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
He expressed the hope that the respective agencies would find a lasting solution to the menace soon, decrying that airlines were huge sums of money to the incident annually.
“My record shows that we have had at least 93 bird strike incidents in all our airports between January this year and June. And out of this number, 54 of it happened in Lagos Airport alone, which represents about 70 per cent of the total occurrences.
”We all have to proffer a solution to this menace and I do hope we have a lasting solution to it because everyone, especially the airlines, are losing money,” he said.
Also speaking, FAAN’s head of unit, bird control, at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Mr. Adetunji Adetutu, said in his presentation that no airline is immune from bird strike incidents.
Adetutu explained that FAAN as the airport landlord was doing its best to curb the rate of occurrence through the procurement of modern equipment, which he said had gone a long way to reduce its impacts.
He also blamed pilots for the high bird strike rates in the industry, stressing that some pilots were always in a hurry to take off and in the process violate the instructions of air traffic controllers (ATC)
He said it is necessary for the airlines and their pilots to also have a change of culture by adhering to the instructions issued by ATCs.
According to him, 98 per cent of bird strike incidents occurred at the airports, especially when taking off and landing.
“The final say on what happens to the aircraft lies with the pilots. Until the ATC gives clearance for pilots to depart or land, it is necessary for pilots to listen to their advice.
”Airline operators should have a change of culture on how we carry out our duties. It is the suitability of the environment that brings birds to the airport environment. We have water, shelter and food around the airports. Runway should be free of activities at takeoff and landing,” Adetutu said.
He emphasised further that most of the birds that cause havoc at the airports migrate from other continents to Africa at a particular time of the season.
In his contribution, the search and rescue mission coordinator, NAMA, Mr. Olanrewaju Iwalaye, said it was necessary for all stakeholders to curb bird strike incidents at the airports with the procurement of advanced equipment.
He applauded FAAN for procuring equipment to reduce the incident.
‘We need to find a way to address this challenge. Birds are in their natural habitat and most of our airports are built close to the forest.
“Apart from birds, we also have wildlife animals, which also strike. We hope to propose on mitigation in order to address it. We also need to know the activities of birds too. Statistics that was given earlier indicates that 93 bird incidents were recorded as at September 17, 2022, but 32 of these occurred in just two months,” he added.
