Airports escalate battle against birds
The Shanghai Airport Authority is intensifying efforts to keep birds from flying into aircraft after a second bird strike occurred this week at Pudong International Airport.
Although they rarely cause airplanes to crash, bird strikes cost airlines and airports financially in delays and extra maintenance costs. Bird strikes cost the commercial aviation industry 1.2 billion yuan ($188.86 million) each year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Since 1960, they have caused 400 crashes and killed 370 passengers worldwide.
A United Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles struck several birds as it sped down the runway during takeoff Tuesday afternoon, according to the Oriental Morning Post. The collision damaged one of the airplane's engines, but no injuries were reported and the delay didn't affect other flights.
The first bird strike of the week happened on Sunday when a Spring Airlines flight to Hong Kong hit a bird soon after takeoff. One of the aircraft's engines failed and the flight had to return to Pudong on a single engine, according to the newspaper. No injuries were reported, but passengers had to wait an extra four hours for the airline to assign a new airplane to the flight.
"The frequency of bird strikes increases during the summer, when birds are flying around more often, but they're not that common in others seasons," said Tian Lu, the press officer with the Shanghai Airport Authority.
According to domestic aviation regulations, airports are supposed to limit the frequency of bird strikes to fewer than three for every 100,000 flights, the news website Zhejiang Online reported. A total of 23,303 flights took off or landed at Pudong International Airport last month, according to the Shanghai Airport Authority.
The airport has had a team of workers devoted to keeping birds away. It is charged with calculating the populations of nearby birds and patrolling the airport, according to the airport authority.
The team is currently spraying pesticide every five to six days around the runways to kill off the insects that some birds feed on. The team has also intensified patrols to keep the birds away.
"Although birds tend to be more active during the first three seasons of the year, prevention measures have to be carried on all year long because there's no method to keep them away for good," said Zhao Xinru, a bird expert and professor at Beijing Normal University.
There might currently be more birds around the airport due to the recent typhoons. Many nests were swept away in the storms, causing the birds from surrounding habitats to search for other flat and open areas to nest, like those around the airports, according to a news release from Shanghai Airport Authority. The area along the coast of the East China Sea and the south estuary of the Yangtze River are especially hospitable to birds.