Birds prey on Vietnam’s airports

HANOI The Airports Corporation of Vietnam faces the difficult task of banning birds from overflying airports in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

ACV has submitted its plan to install a foreign object debris detection system (FODetect) at Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat International airports to enable air traffic control to detect the presence of flocks of birds on the landing and take off paths.

The system costs USD52 million to install and provide around the clock surveillance, but it will do away with the need to send out patrols to frighten off birds that get too close to the airports.

Typically, the cost of chasing away the birds will fall on the airlines that will be charged from USD17 to USD35 per domestic and international flight.

At the moment, airport staff rely on the old fashioned binoculars to find bird hazards.

Airlines in Vietnam have experienced several incidents where birds have crashed into planes and caused engine damage.

One of the notable bird strike incidents took place in Noi Bai Airport in September, last year, when a bird hit the nose of a Vietjet Air plane and flattened the navigation cone.  The bird shared the same fate.