On 15 August a Ural Airlines A321 flight U6178 took off from Moscow’s Zhukovsky International Airport and while climbing at 750 feet it was hit by a flock of large birds which damaged both engines and pilot managed to land in a corn field just near the runway.
If this had been a populated area, like we have on periphery of every major airport in Pakistan, the 226 passengers and 7 crew on board the flight and hundreds of citizens living in populated areas would have been the victim of this catastrophe. Fortunately, Moscow Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority enforced 15KM sterile zone and pilot skilfully landed in corn field, managing to save all those on board. There were no fatalities on ground because Moscow Civil Aviation had not allowed any urbanization and housing schemes to be built in vicinity of airfield.
This should serve as a reminder to our CAA Pakistan and Federal Government of criminal negligence of those who issued NoCs to powerful real estate developers to build housing projects right next to fencing of all our airports such as Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan and at Chaklala Airport which was till a few months back being used as our International Airport. Even at New Islamabad Airport which has already cost this country over Rs 100 billion, housing societies are being allowed to emerge, while Federal Government and CAA succumbs to powerful land mafia and its nexus within paid bureaucracy and political elite. Bird activity results because of housing societies, clubs, restaurants and marriage halls etc that have been built near our airports, and flocks of eagles and vultures invade every airfield forcing diversion and damage to engines.
MALIK TARIQ
Lahore
