Birdstrike hits another passenger jet at airport

Manila Standard Today
October 24, 2012
By Vito Barcelo

Another birdstrike hit a Philippine Airlines aircraft, with 152 passengers onboard, as it was landing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Monday night.

Mechanics of Lufthansa Tehcnik Philippines said they found bloodstains on the wings of Airbus A320 plane that had just come from Bacolod City landed Manila around 8:45 pm. Fortunately, no passenger was injured.

Mechanics found no serious damage to the aircraft's wing or jet engines, but the flagcarrier issued a statement expressing alarm at the increasing incidents of birdstrikes.

"The number of 'birdstrikes' at NAIA has been steadily increasing over the past months as reported by PAL and other airlines operating in Manila's premiere international airport," the airline said.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines has recorded 49 bird strikes in NAIA from January to September, compared to 30 bird strikes in 2011, and 25 in 2010.

The CAAP and the Manila International Airport Authority attributed the increase in birdstrikes to the bird sanctuary in the Las Pinas area, which they said is in the direct path of the planes.

Only last September, a birdstrike is believed to have been the cause of the crash of a Nepalese airline that killed 19 passengers.

The Sita Air plane came down minutes after leaving Kathmandu for Lukla before crashing into a river bank and catching fire.

In Scotland, civial aviation authorities also noted an increase in the number of bird strikes at the Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness airport over the past two years.