Tuesday, July 1


Pune: Aviation experts have urged officials tasked with operations at the airport to put in place measures to stop stray animals from entering the runway area and triggering incidents like the one last Saturday, when an Air India Express jet had to abort a landing after dogs were seen on approach. The experts described the incident as serious and called for collaboration to address the problem, among the IAF, which manages air operations, PMC and Airports Authority of India. Feeding of strays should be controlled and sterilisation must be carried out in the area, they said.Saturday’s incident was the second time in 5 months dogs on the runway had disrupted flight operations at Pune airport. “On Feb 13, a serious incident occurred during the take-off roll of Flight SG 2962 from Pune to Ahmedabad, when a dog was spotted on the runway,” read a letter written by Pune Airport Director Santosh Dhoke to PMC at the time. The letter added: “The aircraft made contact with the dog approximately 100 metres from the lineup point, forcing crew to reject the takeoff. The dog was found dead, and the aircraft returned to the bay for checks. While no significant damage to the aircraft was reported, passengers were deplaned, causing considerable inconvenience as they had to repeat check-in, security, and boarding processes.” Dhoke confirmed the contents of the letter on Monday. “Yes, I wrote the letter requesting action. PMC conducted a dog sterilisation drive after that, but the problem has not been resolved,” he told TOI. Dhoke didn’t elaborate on risks posed by strays, but said that in Pune, AAI has no direct role in air operations. “The IAF is responsible for the entire air operation at Pune airport,” he said.TOI tried to contact Air Commodore Satbir Singh Rai, Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of Air Force Station Pune on Monday, but he could not be reached. A senior IAF officer from New Delhi said: “We have mechanisms to counter birds and dogs at each station (IAF monitored). But this issue is complex for us to resolve entirely on our end. These problems emerge due to external civic issues outside the campus of the station. The civic bodies and, to some extent, the airport officials need to work equally hard to control this problem.“The officer added IAF has trained personnel for bird threats. “When it comes to dogs, some IAF stations even dedicated dog squads. But the problem remains at certain locations,” the officer said.Dhairyashil Vandekar, an aviation expert, said the string of recent animal intrusions at Lohegaon airport — a leopard in April to strays now — presented a worrisome situation for both AAI and IAF authorities. “The entire campus of Pune Air Force station is a compound. So how do strays enter operational areas of the airport? To prevent such problems, we need to have a plan in place for inside and outside the airport. We often see stray dogs outside the airport,” Vandekar said.Sarika Funde, head of PMC’s veterinary department, said dog catchers are sent to the Pune airport area every Saturday. “All authorities need to work towards securing the airport. We don’t know how dogs enter the runway despite the Air Force station being secured by compound walls. Adequate measures need to be taken at the airport too to keep dogs away from the premises,” Funde said.





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