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Bird strikes skyrocket at BIA
View(s):The number of bird strikes at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) increased by 88 per cent last year to one bird strike per 1,667 flights —something the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) said requires immediate attention. “There were 49 bird strikes with aircraft reported either within Sri Lanka airspace or overseas in respect of Sri Lanka registered aircraft,” the provisional 2013 annual report of the CAASL says. A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft.
It had been widely expected that the number of bird strikes would be higher at the rural Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) where wildlife is more abundant. However, 30 of these strikes occurred at BIA while only three took place at MRIA. The others took place elsewhere in Sri Lankan airspace. “Compared to bird strikes reported at BIA in 2012, which is 16 (strike rate 0.0003) in total, the bird strikes at BIA in 2013 shows 88% increase representing 1 bird strike for every 1,667 flights which requires immediate attention of the airport operator,” the report states.
Meanwhile, the report reveals that CAASL granted approvals for employment of 41 foreign pilots “due to absence of sufficiently skilled local pilots”. This was done at the request of the national carrier SriLankan Airlines, the budget carrier Mihin Lanka, the privately owned Fits Aviation and other domestic airlines.
The CAASL also said that 13 per cent more flights traversed Sri Lankan airspace in 2013 when compared with 2012. The regulator attributed this to many foreign airlines identifying MRIA as “an adequate and suitable alternate airport for landing in case of an emergency”.