Controlling Bird Menace at IGIA

Presented By:

Tariq Kamal

AGM – Safety & ComplianceDIAL

Year No. of Hits Confirmed

2006 35 35

2007 41 23

2008 37 19

Bird Hit data of IGIA

Bird Hit Data ComparisonBetween 2008 and 2009

Total Location Bird Type Time Damage Lan

din

g

Tak

e

Off

Confir

m

Suspectd

Outside Inside Kite other

s

N

K

Day Night Nil Minor Major

37 18 19 13 04 20 23 14 29 06 02 25 12 19 18

2008

2009 (YTD)

Total Location Bird Type Time Damage Landin

g

Tak

e

Off

Confir

m

Suspected

Outside Inside Kite other N

K

Day Night Nil Min

or

Majo

r

30 06 24 04 07 19 21 09 27 02 01 24 06 13 17

Birds Affecting Operations at IGIA

• Pariah Kite

• House Crow

• Pigeon

• Lapwing

• Cattle Egret

• Flamingo

• Collared Dove & Sparrows

• Ibis

• Owl & Bat ( During Night )

Bird Prone Area Around IGIA

• Dwarka Sector -8 Drain.

• Meharam Nagar

• R K Puram Drain

• Indira Puram

• Mangla Puri Bus Terminal

• Ghazipur

• Idd Gah

• Nasripur Road

White-rumped VulturePariah Kite

Soaring Scavenging Raptors

Jungle Crow House Crow Spotted Dove

Predominantly Aerial Birds

Peafowl Cattle Egret Grey Partridge Black

Partridge

Predominantly Ground Birds

Little Egret Grey Heron Pond Heron

Ringed Plover

Aquatic Birds

Eagle Owl Barn OwlGiant Fruit Bat

Nocturnal Birds

Animals Captured By Wildlife Sos

From IGIA

April 2008 to March 2009Dogs 647

Snakes 63

Monkeys 09 Monitor Lizards 27

Jackals 18

Cats 18

Hare 01

Mongoose 03Blue Bulls 02

Porcuppine 03

Cow 01

Total 792

ANIMALS CAPTURED at IGI Airport

1st Jan 09 to 30th September 2009

Dogs 149

Snakes 23

Monkeys 04

Monitor Lizards 16

Jackals 04Cats 04

Mongoose 02

Porcuppine 03

Cow 04

Peacock 01Total 210

Blue BullBlack-naped Hare Jackals

Snakes PorcupineMonitor Lizard

Reptiles & Ground Mammals

Monitor Lizard Caught from IGIA

Causes of Bird menace

• Vast areas inside the airport is an attraction for birds for feeding /

resting as a lot of virtually undisturbed areas are available( baring

Runways, Taxiways and Aprons almost 60 to 75% of total area

is undisturbed)

• Vegetation and insects are main attractions

• Availability of animal and poultry wastes within the buffer zone

Causes

People and Organisation

At IGIA, the bird and animal control ( Wildlife control) is a part

of the Safety Health and Environment team. Wildlife control is

known as BASHM team

BASHM – Bird / Animal – Aircraft Strike Hazard Management

• 7 BASHM Inspectors & 50 bird chasers/shift

• 6 Sharp shooters

• 4 Langoorwalas deployed to scare away monkeys

• Wildlife SOS, NGO, available 24/7 with a mobile van

People and Organisation

• 4 dedicated vehicles available with BASHM team. These vehicles

are fitted with Radio telephony and Scarecrow devices. 3 vehicles

continuously patrol the runways and supervise the bird scarers

Resources Deployed on the Airfield

Scarecrow Premier

A distress call-based bird scaring device mounted on the ‘FOLLOW ME” Jeep

Resources Deployed on the Airfield

• 24 LPG operated ZON Guns are positioned at critical spots

outside the shoulder of the 3 RWYs. They produce a loud noise

which scare away the birds. We can adjust the interval at which

these sounds are produced like 1 in 5 minutes or 1 in 10 minutes.

These guns are frequently changed positions and directions so

that birds are not familarised with them

Resources Deployed on the Airfield

• 12 Battery operated scary man devices are deployed close to lift

off and touch down points. These devices are very useful during

night. A human shaped inflated balloon raises with a distress call

Resources Deployed on the Airfield

• 07 Signal pistols are provided to wildlife controllers. These pistols

use high intensity cartridges which produce high intensity light,

sound and smoke. The combined effect is very useful to scare

away the birds.

Resources Deployed on the Airfield

• 06 Laser torches are used by the wildlife controllers. These

torches produce a green coloured laser stick and it is very useful

in low visibility conditions especially in the morning and evening

hours

Resources Deployed on the Airfield

• More than 5000 polycarbonate spikes have been installed on the

approach lights and other structures to prevent birds perching on

these and causing a potential strike hazard

• Wildlife SOS, an NGO is engaged for capturing animals such as

dogs, jackals, porcupines, monkeys, birds, snakes, etc. In 2008,

we captured 598 dogs, 18 jackals, 23 monkeys, 60 snakes, 6

porcupines and a few kites.

• Grass management is done to prevent wild growth. Machines and

men are deployed to maintain grass growth restricted to 6 inches.

This avoids presence of insects which attracts birds.

• Installed silver flutter strips along the RWY.

Resources Deployed on the Airfield

Garbage Disposal

Grass Cutting & Garbage Disposal

• Developed BASHM SOPs covering all activities

• Done a workshop for pilots on bird hit reporting

• Held briefing sessions for stakeholders ( 12 Nos )

• Meetings with stakeholders ( 7 nos )

• AEMC meetings

Systems Put in place

• We invited International Bird Experts to audit our BASHM ( Mr. John

Allan from UK and Mr. Jaap Beimond from Netherlands). We will

continue to invite experts from all over the world so that we

continuously improve.

• In the last audit in September last year, these experts commented

that IGIA has put in all practicable efforts to reduce the bird and

animal menace. They said that “they have not seen any other

airport in the world with the quantum of efforts such as the one

at IGIA”.

Systems Put in place

• Did thorough inspection of buffer zone to identify illegal animal

waste dumping site.

• Took photographs and video and showed to all Government

agencies including MOCA

• Continuous follow up done with all these agencies

• Inspection of buffer zone and meeting authorities on animal waste

issue

• Continuous follow up done with all civic agencies.

Actions to eliminate waste dumping in Buffer zone

Key Achievements

1. Bird Strike Rate brought down to 1.56 (37 incidents, 237,780

annual A/c movements) in 2008 from 1.77 (40 incidents, 225,510 A/c

movements) in 2007

2. Bird-proofing with polycarbonate spikes have proved to be

useful by denying perching site for kites and other large birds

3. New bird chaser team from Skylark Company was trained by

BASHM team and are performing duties satisfactorily

Way forward

• Increase mobile teams and reduce bird scarers

• Alternate agencies for animal control

• Look for new technologies

• Focus on buffer zone for improvements

• BASHM leaflets for stakeholders

• More workshops for pilots and ATC

• Covering of drains at IGIA

THANKS

LET US SAVE AIRCRAFT, PEOPLE, ANIMALS, AND BIRDS!LET THERE BE NO REPEAT OF HUDSON RIVER ACCIDENT!