The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), has commissioned a bird/wildlife management equipment, following bird strike incidents that involved Max Air and Aero Contractor airlines at the Aminu Kano International Airport (AKIA), Kano and Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), Rivers State, respectively, last week.
The equipment will help to prevent the incessant occurrence of bird strike incidents in the nation’s aviation industry.
Recall that Aero Contractor, Boeing 737-500 with registration number: 5N-BKR, was heading to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja, before the bird strike incident damaging the aircraft blade in the process.
Max Air aircraft, also a Boeing 737 aircraft with registration number: 5N: BBM, had departed Kano for Abuja airport at 1:21pm, but made an air return barely nine minutes later when three engine blades were attacked by birds on take-off at the airport.
The attack caused a big bang on the aircraft and got onboard passengers worried, as they were unsure of the kind of attack the airplane suffered.
However, in a press statement, the general manager, corporate affairs, FAAN, Henrietta Yakubu, said the equipment were launched to improve safety of flight operations by effectively managing birds/wildlife hazards at the nation’s airports.
It quoted the managing director, Captain Rabiu Yadudu, as saying that the equipment are some of the best the authority can get around, as FAAN procured them on the recommendation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
According to the Yadudu who was represented by the director of commercial and business development, Alhaji Sadiku Rafindadi, the deployment of these equipment will usher in an era of safe flight operations, as incidents relating to bird strikes will now be a thing of the past.
In his remark, director of airport operations, Captain Muktar Muye, expressed his delight at the arrival of the equipment. He noted that what was being commissioned is not just the equipment but a complete package that also includes the recommended storage facility, patrol vehicle and trained personnel in line with ICAO’s standards and recommended practices.
Some of the hi-tech equipment commissioned include three different models of bird scaring gas canons, Dayboxes for carrying pyrotechnics during operations for safety, 15,000 rounds of 12G (heavy caliber bird scaring pyrotechnics), hi-tech bird laser, among others.