Bareilly: Rabbits may appear to be tiny, furry and cute, but are, surprisingly, a big risk to flights that have just touched the tarmac. In response to a Right to Information (RTI) query, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said that over half all animal-hits that occur soon after a plan has touched ground occur as rabbits scurry onto runways.
Bareilly-based RTI activist Mohd Khalid Jilani received a response from the DGCA, showing that in 10 incidents of animal-hit that occurred in the past three years, rabbits were responsible for interfering with the plane's landing gear. Jackals too have sometimes disrupted a landing flight. In one instance, a dog had made an appearance on the runway. The DGCA has now issued guidelines for the prevention of animal hits to all state governments.
The RTI activist had sought a response on six points - the number of incidents involving pilots and co-pilots of government and private airlines falling off to sleep in the course of the flight; follow-up action by the government in such instances; incidents of animal hits with precise figures; pests in crafts; losses suffered on account of all these, and preventive steps taken by the government.
Director (air safety) with the DGCA, Manish Kumar, said there was no instance of a pilot falling off to sleep during the flight till now, so the question of follow-up action in such cases did not arise. The Air Safety officials also do not maintain records of the numbers of rodents spotted in flights, the RTI response said.
About animal hits while landing, the DGCA official said more than four incidents involving planes that belong to private airlines Indigo, Jet Airways and Jetlite took place on January 25, 2012, August 9, 2014, September 10, 2014 and November 28, 2014 respectively; all these because rabbits were found on the runway. All these accidents occurred during the landing of the craft, Kumar said.
16/01/15 Mrigank Tiwari/Times of India
Bareilly-based RTI activist Mohd Khalid Jilani received a response from the DGCA, showing that in 10 incidents of animal-hit that occurred in the past three years, rabbits were responsible for interfering with the plane's landing gear. Jackals too have sometimes disrupted a landing flight. In one instance, a dog had made an appearance on the runway. The DGCA has now issued guidelines for the prevention of animal hits to all state governments.
The RTI activist had sought a response on six points - the number of incidents involving pilots and co-pilots of government and private airlines falling off to sleep in the course of the flight; follow-up action by the government in such instances; incidents of animal hits with precise figures; pests in crafts; losses suffered on account of all these, and preventive steps taken by the government.
Director (air safety) with the DGCA, Manish Kumar, said there was no instance of a pilot falling off to sleep during the flight till now, so the question of follow-up action in such cases did not arise. The Air Safety officials also do not maintain records of the numbers of rodents spotted in flights, the RTI response said.
About animal hits while landing, the DGCA official said more than four incidents involving planes that belong to private airlines Indigo, Jet Airways and Jetlite took place on January 25, 2012, August 9, 2014, September 10, 2014 and November 28, 2014 respectively; all these because rabbits were found on the runway. All these accidents occurred during the landing of the craft, Kumar said.
16/01/15 Mrigank Tiwari/Times of India
No comments:
Post a Comment