Culling to turn airport into no-fly-zone… for birds
Matthew Vella
The government has amended hunting laws that previously prohibited the shooting of birds inside and around the Malta International Airport and the Gozo Heliport.
Just weeks after a bird strike hit US Airways Flight 1549 after leaving New York’s LaGuardia airport, and forcing it to make an emergency landing in Hudson River, the government has given the green light to the culling of dangerous birds on Maltese airfields.
A bird strike is a collision between a bird and aircraft, usually occurring when the bird hits either the windscreen or gets sucked into the engines. At times leading to fatal accidents, the bird strike that hit the US Airways flight led to a loss in engine power.
In comments to MaltaToday, a spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister said the government can derogate from the Birds Directive, which outlaws hunting in bird sanctuaries, in the interests of air safety.
The airport in Malta and the Gozo heliport are in fact designated bird sanctuaries. The spokesperson said the legal notice allows “a temporary permission to kill birds in these airports only and only when air safety necessitates such measure. Such an authorisation will be considered only after alternative methods ensuring air safety have proved unsuccessful.”
Bird strikes are a common threat to aircraft safety, causing annual damages that have been estimated at $400 million in the USA alone, to $1.2 billion worldwide to commercial aircraft.
The International Bird Strike Committee, which includes both US and European officials, recommends that a senior manager in every airport is made responsible for the implementation of a bird control programme.
Airports should identify the features which attract birds and develop a plan to deny access to birds as far as practicable, which can include firearms and traps.
And after Flight 1549’s crash-landing in the Hudson River, the New York and New Jersey port authorities announced they had deployed Peregrine falcons at airports to scare away ducks, geese and other birds that could collide with plane engines. Falconry is also used at Kennedy International Airport to scare away gulls and other birds.
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