Aircraft Safety: Lagos Airport tops bird strike incidents record

The Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, has decried the increasing rise of bird strikes at the Lagos airports.

A workshop organized by the Search and Rescue Mission of the agency, revealed that airports across the country recorded no fewer than 93 bird strike incidents in the first quarter of this year.

Out of these numbers, the Lagos airport recorded 54.

Speaking at the event, Head Bird and Wildlife Hazard Control, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mr. Azike Edozie said, keeping the airspace safe from bird strike incidents is the responsibility of all stakeholders including airline operators, security agencies and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

According to him, airlines have lost million of dollars annually to the incident and a lasting solution was needed to address the problem.

“My record shows that we have had at least 93 bird strike incidents in all our airports between January this year to June. And out of this number, 54 of it happened in Lagos Airport alone, which represents about 70 per cent of the total occurrences”.

The Head, Bird Control unit International Airport, Lagos, Mr. Adetunji Adetutu, stated that, no airline was immune from the incident of bird strikes, adding that, FAAN as the airport landlord was doing its best to reduce the incidents of bird strikes to the barest.

He said, FAAN had procured some modern equipment to tackle and reduce the impact of bird strikes as 98 per cent of the incidents occurred at the airports, especially during aircraft take off and landing.

Airline operators should have a change of culture on how we carry out our duties. It’s the suitability of the environment that bring birds to the airport environment. We have water, shelter and food around the airports. Runway should be free of activities at take off and landing.”

The Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator, NAMA, Mr. Olanrewaju Iwalaye, commended FAAN for the recent improvement in the reduction of bird strike incidents at the airport with the procurement of advanced equipment.

“Apart from birds, we also have wildlife animals, which are also strikes. We hope to propose on mitigation in order to address it. We also need to know the activities of birds too. Statistics that was given earlier indicates that 93 bird incidents were recorded as at September 17, 2022, but 32 of this occurred in just two months.”