This balloon, featuring mock predator eyes and bright colors, is used to deter small and large birds at the Qingdao Liuting International Airport. Photo: CFP

A staff member patrols the airport with a shotgun in case of emergencies. The gun is used to frighten off birds. Photo: CFP

A sun-powered automatic gas exploder, which produces noise louder than a shotgun blast, is installed on the lawn of the airport. Photo: CFP

A scarecrow, wearing airport uniform, placed in the middle of the airport lawn. Photo: CFP

A staff member saves a hoopoe from a bird net and prepares to release it into the sky. Photo: CFP

 

Exploders, guns, fireworks and even cannons - the Qingdao Liuting International Airport is using a whole array of "weapons" to prevent birds from a dangerous and costly collision with aircraft, which can cause millions of yuan worth of damage and even bring planes down.

Collisions between aircraft and animals, birds in particular, poses a threat to aviation safety. Civil aviation authorities recorded over 500 bird strikes in the Chinese mainland last year, which contributed to over 24 percent of all aircraft incidents.

"Bird strikes can often be lethal. Birds can be drawn into propellers in propeller-powered aircraft and damage their blades, or be sucked into the engines of jet aircraft," according to the head of the bird control unit at the Qingdao Liuting International Airport, surnamed Miao.

Miao is aware of 39 species of birds that enjoy the habitat around the airport or migrate here at a certain time of the year. Summer is the time when flocking birds, considered to be the greatest threat to aircraft, appear, and spring and autumn are the seasons when the largest numbers of birds come close to the airport.

Over the past decades, the airport has been replacing traditional ways of bird control, such as frightening them off with gunshots or using bird drugs, with more ecologically friendly measures including radio-equipped vehicles, pyrotechnic devices such as automatic gas exploders, and visual bird scares such as balloons and scarecrows in the shape of humans and eagles.

Global Times