Growing number of incidents of bird strikes in the sky around Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) has created a major safety concern for flight operations as a survey has found that unregulated business activities within its 10-kilometre radius makes breeding space for birds.
The study carried out by the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has found that 55 per cent of 1,335 dumping grounds around HSIA remain open while 50 per cent of 753 kitchen markets and 85 per cent of 663 slaughtering houses are located on roadside in open spaces.
The study findings were disclosed at a workshop on Quest for a Safer Sky organised by CAAB at its auditorium on Wednesday amid incidents of four international aircraft accidents in the world.
CAAB Chairman Monjur Kabir Bhuiyan attended the workshop as the chief guest where heads of the safety departments from different airlines and CAAB officials were present, among others.
Member (operations) of Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee Md Harunur Rashid, Head of Safety Management of US Bangla AAMM Shamsuzzahan, Head of Safety of Novo Air Ashfaq-ur-Rahman Khan, Deputy Chief of Flight Safety of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Intekhab Hossain and Head of Safety of Astra Airways Md Kamrul Islam described the safety measures taken in their respective flights.
They identified increasing incidents of bird strikes, foggy winter, crosswind, visibility blocking by big trees and busy grasses among the causes to be addressed for safe flight operations in all airports of the country.
It was also shared that 13,585 events were counted in the Incident of Data Exchange (IDX) of which 3.8 per cent were bird strikes.
When global IDX rate is 0.5, all operators' IDX rate is 1.73 in Bangladesh, said Shamsuzzaman, Head of Safety Management of US Bangla Airlines.
Professor Anwarul Haq Beg of Sher-e Bangla Agriculture University shared findings of the study and said though data compilation work on the study is under process, it has tried to identify breeding places of birds flying around the HSIA.
He said some 66 to 67 species of birds have habitats in and around the international airport in the city but controlling five to six species of birds including black kites is crucial.
Crow and pigeon-like birds are not problems but numbers are factor for safe flying, the study team leader added.
Recently four tragic plane accidents of JEJU Air, KLM, Azerbaijan Airlines and Air Canada have created grave concern for the organisers to address the issues of safe sky by sharing related information and measures.
The CAAB chairman stressed the need for taking all necessary measures for highest standard of safety in the country's airspace and urged all aviation stakeholders and agencies including Dhaka North City Corporation to work closely and cooperatively to identify safety hazards and find ways to mitigate the inherent risks.
He said CAAB's responsibilities are to promote safety, provide improved air navigation services and aerodrome infrastructure that meet ICAO standards, citing initiatives like ILS CAT2 Operations RWY 14 of HSIA, bird strike control at the vicinity of airport and training for boarding bridge operators have already been taken.
"A just culture is to be created to facilitate the implementation of the Safety Management System," he said, lying importance on taking combined efforts for achieving zero fatalities in commercial operations by 2030 and beyond in line with the ICAO Global Aspirational Safety Goal.
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