KATHMANDU, Oct. 5 -- The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal ( CAAN ) plans to hire foreign experts to improve safety and other aspects in the country's aviation sector.
Speaking at a programme on addressing bird hazards at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport, CAAN Director General Tri Ratna Manandhar said, "A recent board meeting of CAAN has decided on this course of action." He added that CAAN was currently following the European Standards procedure for maintenance of aircraft.
Meanwhile, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Post Bahadur Bogati said that the government had adopted a number of immediate measures to ensure safer skies. "We have planned to dispatch inspectors to some airports to study safety aspects," he said.
Likewise, CAAN has directed airlines to maintain a single model fleet. It has given them until Dec 31 to fully enforce the system as per International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) rules. The directives will bar pilots from operating multiple types of aircraft. Minister Bogati said that the government had decided to hold an interaction with the people living around TIA to make them aware of environmental and bird hazards besides educating them on air movements and possible consequences.
Immediately after the Sita Air crash on the banks of the Manohara River in Bhaktapur district, the cause of which has been suspected to be a bird hit, CAAN officials said that it was necessary to educate people on how birds are attracted to TIA and how that could be prevented.
According to CAAN , the polluted Bagmati and Manohara rivers, paddy cultivation, trees and landfill sites which are situated within a 15-km radius of TIA have been attracting birds to the area. Officials said that when a bird weighing 3 kg slams into an aircraft at 150 km per hour, the impact is equivalent to being struck by a 1,800 kg hammer on an area of 1 sq ft. "The speed of a bird is equal to a missile when it hits an object from a negative direction," CAAN officials said.
"Perhaps this will be the first deadly crash due to a bird strike if the fact-finding committee finds that as the cause of the mishap of Sita Air." The first bird hit happened to a Thai Airways Airbus A300 in October 1996.
The second major bird strike happened to a Bangladesh Biman DC-10 on Sept 2, 2010. More than 70 bird strikes have been reported in Nepal since 1990. Most of them have occurred during take-off or landing, officials said. TIA has a 48 percent incidence of bird strikes compared to other airports.
A CAAN report shows that there are 29 species of birds in the area around TIA. Among them, five are large types, 10 are medium sized and 24 small sized. The black kite is the major threat, and bird strikes happen mainly during the period September-October. Officials said that five bird strikes have been reported so far this year. Published by HT Syndication with permission from EKantipur.com. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at [email protected]
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