Incident raises concerns about safety issues at Patna airport
PATNA: Sunday’s incident, in which an engine of a SpiceJet flight bound for New Delhi caught fire due to alleged bird hit, has once again raised questions about bird menace and safety concerns at Patna airport, which has reported such incidents in the past, thanks to the open abattoir and shops selling meat in the open around the zone.
According to old data from the Airports Authority of India (AAI), at least five bird hits, two involving IndiGo and three of GoAir, were reported in August 2014. The frequency of bird hits annually would have only grown over the years at the Patna airport, said airport officials, even as they claimed they did not have data readily available on Sunday.
Though SpiceJet attributed Sunday’s incident to a bird hit, airport officials, on condition of anonymity, disputed the claim and attributed it to a technical fault in the aircraft.
“There was no blood stain or feather mark around the engine of the aircraft. Balls of fire started coming out of the affected engine as soon as the aircraft took off from the runway. Only a detailed inquiry will reveal the truth,” said an airport official.
The airport authorities have been raising the issue of open abattoir and meat shops near the airport with the state government for over a decade now, but no tangible action has been taken yet. Patna district magistrate, Chandrashekhar Singh, who is a member of the airport environment committee meeting, presided by the Patna divisional commissioner, said a solution for open meat shops was being worked out.
“We have demolished the meat shops from time to time. We have now asked the municipal corporation to make permanent arrangements for the meat vendors at a location away from the airport,” said Singh. The civil aviation authorities, in their notice to airmen, caution pilots about the bird menace at Patna airport.
Whatever the fact behind Sunday’s incident, in which 185
air passengers escaped death, there are several factors that contribute in making the Patna airport one of the most dangerous in the country.
With a runway length of just 2,072 metres — of which 1,938 metres is for landing from the east and 1,677 metres for landing from the west— the Patna airport is prone to air disasters.
As per data from the Federal Aviation Administration, US, the adequate runway length required for a safe landing of Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s is 2,300 metres.
“It goes without saying that the Patna airport is one of the critical airports in India for a long time, primarily due to its short runway length. We did address some issues, like constructing the runway-end safety area (RESA), which is a 90 x 90 metres sand pit to prevent an aircraft from overrunning the runway. Many steps are still being taken towards enhancing its safety,” said Arvind Dubey, retired director of Patna airport. The alternative to the Patna airport at Bihta, an airforce base, has overstretched its 2021 deadline. It is now expected to be completed by the end of 2023.
Unlike other airports, the Patna airport is located right in the middle of the state capital, with tall buildings, making the people residing around it vulnerable. As per an assessment done by the DGCA some years back, there were around 50 structures, including the heritage clock tower of the state secretariat, multi-storeyed buildings and mobile towers, which had come up in violation of the prescribed height around the Patna airport.
“One has to live with the fact that the Patna airport is located in a congested area,” said Dubey. Given the safety concerns, it was only in February 2016 that the DGCA issued an aerodrome licence to the Patna airport. An Alliance Air flight (7412) crashed in Patna in July 2000, killing 51 passengers and crew members. Four people on the ground too were killed.
Safety audits undertaken by the DGCA thereafter had declared it unsafe for operations. The DGCA had even threatened to re-notify the runway length and restrict air operation to smaller aircraft like turbo jets.
The Patna airport is also one of the fast-growing airports in India and its average annual footfall had crossed 3.65 million in 2019. The airport handled more than 3.3 lakh passengers in April 2018, compared to 2.2 lakh in April 2017..