Indian airlines have been involved in relatively more incidents including emergency landings due to a bird strike. Although these events are common and occur frequently in all parts of the world, recently, events have become more frequent due to the early signs of monsoon, as such events are more frequent with the onset of the season. Recently, two Indian airlines experienced the same incident while flying domestically in the country.
Recently, a Delhi-bound IndiGo plane had to make an emergency landing after facing a bird strike, making it the first incident. Another incident happened very soon after the accident. In the second incident, a SpiceJet aircraft had a similar fate when it had to make an emergency landing at Patna airport after a bird hit one of its engines. According to reports, smoke and fire were seen coming out of the aircraft’s engine.
But you must be thinking that what does this have to do with monsoon? With the onset of monsoons and rains, the flight patterns of birds take a toll on their fate. However, recent events are not the only reason for this.
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Depending on the expert’s point of view, airport infrastructure is also to blame in the form of hazards such as a short runway, uncut trees, open drains, and waterlogging, some of the problems that airplanes face during their flight. Huh.
To give a precise example of the incident, the DGCA says India’s airports faced 1,200 bird strikes and 29 animal strike incidents in 2018. This implies that the animals around the airport are a major threat to the aircraft as well as the animals.