"Bird-hits are not the only problem. Wild animals wander into runways and create serious problems for departing and landing aircraft," said Debashish Saha, Joint Secretary of Aeronautical Society of India (ASI), a leading professional body in the field of aeronautics, aviation and aerospace.
Though financial costs of bird-hits or similar incidents are high, the cost in human lives lost due to air crashes caused by such incidents "best illustrate the need for management of the wildlife strike problem," Saha said.
Aviation regulator DGCA has estimated that all Indian carriers suffered a loss of Rs ten crore last year in such incidents which caused damage to aircraft and engines, DGCA's Deputy Director General Lalit Gupta, who is also associated with ASI, said.
Aircraft collisions with wildlife annually cost the aviation industry millions of dollars in direct damage and associated costs in terms of aircraft down-time, he said.
To address this problem, top experts from DGCA, US Federal Aviation Administration, EU-India Civil Aviation Cooperation Project, aircraft maker Airbus, Indian Air Force, Athens Airport and Airports Authority of India would be participating in a day-long international conference on the issue here on Friday.
The conference is being organised by ASI, which has members from the entire aviation industry, with its Chief Patron being Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Successive Prime Ministers have held this post since Jawaharlal Nehru.
