July 20, 2009

The collision of birds with aircraft, bird-strike accidents, during takeoffs near airports is becoming a grave concern for Ethiopian aviation authorities.

At a sensitization workshop organized by the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Thursday at the Addis Ababa Ghion Hotel, Girma Gebre, aircraft accidents prevention and investigation bureau chief, pointed out that the number of reported accidents caused by birds strike around the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport has been increasing in recent years. According to Girma, in the first five months of this year only seven bird-strike accidents were reported.

Early this year, a Southern Airline Boeing 747 freighter aircraft leased by Ethiopian Airlines, which was hit by birds during take off at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, returned to the airport and landed with great difficulty. Both engines were hit by a flock of birds while it was taking off. One of the engines went dead and the pilots managed to return to the airport and to land the Jumbo jet with a great challenge. Girma said one of the engines was totally damaged while the other engine was repaired after undergoing thorough maintenance.

Another Ethiopian Boeing 757 (Et-AJX) passenger aircraft was hit by birds during takeoff. Ethiopian’s seasoned pilots managed to land the aircraft safely. One of the engines was totally damaged. At another incident, trainer Cessna aircraft, was hit by a bird on the wing where the fuel is stored. Following the incident, fuel was leaking from the aircraft. However, the trainee pilot managed to land the aircraft safely.

Ethiopian was incurring heavy expenditures because of bird-strike accidents. It requires a large sum of money to replace or maintain jet engines. Most of the time, birds collide with aircraft during takeoffs when the aircraft is at its maximum takeoff speed. At times both engines shut off and the pilots will be forced to make forced landing immediately like the US Airways pilots did last January at the Hudston river in New York. If they are lucky one of the engines could be running and they would have time to return to the airport and land. In addition to the maintenance cost, fuel involves another cumbersome cost which the airline incurs when it encounters a bird-strike accident. Since the aircraft can not land with all the loaded fuel it has to dispose a large amount of fuel to make a safe landing, which costs the airline dearly. Ethiopian incurred an expenditure of 3.7 million dollars in a year because of birds strikes.

The highest bird-strike accidents were reported in 2006 when there were 17 of them, none of them fatal. There were 11 accidents in 1977 and nine in 1980. Most of the accidents occurred in October and September when a high movement of birds manifests itself.

In September 1988, a Boeing 737 aircraft that took off from Bahir Dar collided with a flock of pigeons. Twenty-eight pigeons were sucked into the two engines – sixteen in the left engine and twelve in the right one. Both engines were dead and the pilots were trying to return to the airport. Tragically, they could not make it. The B737 aircraft crushed in a farm near the airport, killing 35 people and injuring seriously 27. In 1995, a DH6-300 ET AIO aircraft that collided with a giant vulture bird made a forced landing near Addis Ababa Bole Airport.

In the words of Girma, “A bird-strike accident is not peculiar to Ethiopian. It is, rather, a global problem posing a hazardous situation to the global aviation industry. So far, there is no solution to the problem. However, the best that aviation and airport authorities can do is avoiding attractions to birds near the airports.”

According to Girma, the Addis Ababa Abattoir (Kerra), the illegal slaughtering activity in Kara, the garbage storing place used by Rose sanitation company near the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport – only 800 meter away from the runway – and the ponds found near the airport are some of the sites that attract birds of different species to the airport. There are 1000 species of birds in Ethiopia and nine of them are endemic. Worldwide, there are 9000 specious and the number is estimated at one billion birds.

Captain Solomon Gizaw, owner and manager of Abyssinia Flight Services, said that the quarry found near the airport was hazardous in two ways. “Birds come to the pond created because of the quarry to find food. It is impossible to come out alive from an accident during forced landing in an area where there are ponds and quarries. The premises of the airport are covered by grass. I have seen dogs and hyenas in the premises. They come there to scavenge the food disposed from the aircraft,” Captain Solomon said. “The grass has to be regularly be mawned. The quarries should be shut down and the ponds must be refilled. Kerra has to move out of Addis. The residential houses near the airport have to be relocated. We must think of the threat and the aftermath of an aircraft accidents that cost human lives and a huge sum of money.” Captain Solomon called upon all stakeholders to cooperate in resolving the problem.

At the end of the workshop, a taskforce was formed which deals with the bird strike and related problems. The taskforce comprises 11 members drawn from the CAA, the Ethiopian Airport Administration, the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport Administration, Ethiopian Airlines, the Addis Ababa City Administration, and Environmental Protection Authority.

The taskforce would convene next week and draft its action plans. The taskforce will soon establish a national committee. Similar committees would be established in the regional towns where there are airports.