PAL says bird strikes pose safety risk at Naia

11:23 pm | Sunday, September 2nd, 2012

PAL president Ramon S. Ang: Bird sanctuary ill-advised. AP PHOTO/BULLIT MARQUEZ

MANILA, Philippines—Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) said the country may never earn an upgrade from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) due to the prevalence of birds and the resulting bird strikes near and around the Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

PAL president Ramon S. Ang said the small mangrove forest beside Coastal Road in Las Piñas, declared a sanctuary by the previous administration in 2007, posed a risk to the millions of travelers that fly out of Naia every year.

“It’s only here in the Philippines that you will see a bird sanctuary so close to the airport. That endangers the life of all passengers that go to Naia,” Ang said.

His comments came after several wild ducks were sucked into the engine of a PAL flight leaving for Tacloban last Wednesday. The plane had to abort its take off, and fortunately, no one was hurt.

Ang said passengers and crew members on the Tacloban flight should consider themselves lucky. He said ducks and other birds have been known to cause plane crashes in the past—taking down even the biggest commercial planes.

“What if this happens immediately after take-off, to a plane headed to the US that has over 400 people?” Ang asked, adding that policymakers should move to avert air strikes.

He said the decision to declare the Las Piñas mangrove area as a wildlife sanctuary was ill-advised, considering the number of lives it puts at risk. About 5,000 migratory birds can be seen at the mangrove forest at any given day. “Have you seen that place? There’s so much garbage there. That’s why all the birds go there,” Ang said.

He said the presence of the bird sanctuary near the airport would be enough for the FAA not to upgrade the Philippines to Category 1 status—reflecting compliance with international aviation safety standards.

The country’s current Category 2 status means local airlines are barred from expanding operations in the US.

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Tags: Air Transport , bird strikes , birds , FAA upgrade , Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) , Philippine Airlines (PAL) , Philippines , travel safety

http://profile.yahoo.com/HWBW6BSWG7XMCDPCC257GXLHRI Carlo

NEDA has facilitated the discussion on this issue of the Las Pinas paranaque critical habitat – the mangrove – as risk to aviation. I was one of the resource persons and nobody could prove that this piece of mangrove poses as a risk to aviation. MIAA records show that more than 50% of the bird strikes happen when airplanes are rolling, meaning the airplanes are on the ground and more than 50% of the bird strikes involve domestic pigeons – not migratory birds or those that frequent the critical habitat. Airplanes are at least 500ft over the mangrove when they approach the airport to land and the birds are nowhere in that altitude because they are just in the mangrove forest. The birds could be in an area over 500 feet if they are coming in or going out during migration not when they are feeding even if they are disturbed.

NEDA has the records of discussions on this. I might not agree with some of the recommendations but I am generally satisfied with the recommendations.
hustlergalore

“Have you seen that place? There’s so much garbage there. That’s why all the birds go there,” Ang said.

- serious? wala pang airport diyan. mangrove forest na yan dati pa no.
hustlergalore

oh please, bird strike is not unique to our airports.

LOL
oozingkev

“His comments came after several wild ducks were sucked into the engine of a PAL flight leaving for Tacloban last Wednesday.
The plane had to abort its take off, and fortunately, no one was hurt. ” mali na naman ang inquirer. FLIGHT PR 191 MNL-TAC pa-landing po ang eroplano nung nagkaroon ng bird strike.
http://twitter.com/ipatluna Ipat Luna

This is what is called a one-source story, almost like a press release already. How come no one else was interviewed? 5,000 birds on any given day? Those are migratory, half the time, most of them are all the way up in China or Siberia. There should have been some research if any other bird sanctuary is close to the airport. A simple google search would yield so many sanctuaries close to airports, there are even airports that build the sanctuaries themselves!! Birds go near the airport when they have a sanctuary to go to.
http://www.facebook.com/lolo.mo.73997 Lolo Mo

The pretext of bird strike is merely to give justification of establishing Casino expansion so that the Macao base investors can take over our gaming business which is disadvantageous to PAGCOR’s monthly income of 35 billion pesos and still rising. Why accomodate the Macao base if we are already earning so much. The clientile will not increase, the income would just be divided thereby we expect lower income for PAGCOR which is giving boost to our government’s dwendling revenu?. Remember that our Export sector is suffering just like the entire worldwide business contraction. We need the PAGCOR to sustain us during hard times. Bird strike was never been a problem up to the present,so why use it as a justification of closing the bird suctuary to accomodate the Macao base Casinos? In fact, Macao Chinese government has banned the Filipino Expatriates during those hard times in China wherein thousands of Chinese were umemployeed. The local government of Macao made a decree to employee their own citizen to take over the Filipino dealers. And the decree has cause the expalsion of thousands of Filipinos in Macao. We should protect our interest first and Macao second.
mark1205

A bird sanctuary with so much garbage? Our government is really to blame why we become a laughing stock. WE NEED MORE BRILLIANT PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT- that simple so let us choose wisely and educate the poor to do so as well next year :D

http://twitter.com/ipatluna Ipat Luna

The garbage comes from all over the bay, brought in by the waves. This area was chosen well considering it is the last nature reserve in the city but the government and private sectors try hard to keep it litter free but they it’s very hard to keep that way, the fault is in everyone who throws anything out directly to the bay that might get washed away to the bay.

rolandtr

Agree! this area is a wasted resource by the government…They should have reclaimed this and made into a housing project for the people patterned after the very successful mass housing program of Singapore. Instead some dimwits want this area to be a bird sanctuary!

http://www.facebook.com/lolo.mo.73997 Lolo Mo

If garbage is the problem, then clean it up instead of sacrificing the bird suctuary. That place is a transit point of migrating birds to further places. To remove it will endanger the already threaten migrating birds due to human habitation.
http://twitter.com/ipatluna Ipat Luna

If we follow Singapore’s example, we should be conserving that area as mangrove and nature spot. While it developed housing projects, it made sure it left areas for nature to thrive and this mangrove is our very last one.

PAL says bird strikes pose safety risk at Naia

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