Four ‘wildlife strikes’ daily in 2021; DGCA writes to AAI, pvt operators

NEARLY FOUR “wildlife strike” incidents occurred every day near Indian airports last year, double from a little over two daily incidents in 2016, even as aircraft movement numbers for 2021 remained below the 2016 total, according to data sourced from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority of India (AAI).

A “wildlife strike” means an aircraft either suffered a bird hit or was disrupted by an animal on the runway during take-off or landing. One landing or take-off is calculated as one aircraft movement.

Following two bird hit incidents on Sunday, which forced an IndiGo plane and a SpiceJet aircraft to turn back to their airports of origin, India’s aviation safety regulator has written to all airport operators,