XN000022-1973-08-07 — Page 3

+

2

STUDY OF BIRD HAZARD AT KAI TAK

Tuesday, August 7, 1973

A major study is to be made of the behaviour pattern and feeding

+

habits of certain local birds which are a potential hazard to aircraft at

Hong Kong International Airport.

The study, which will take about three years, is part of a long

term programme to eliminate the risk of birdstrikes on aircraft and the

attendant danger to airliners and their passengers.

An ornithologist is currently being recruited by the Agriculture

and Fisheries Department to conduct the study as recommended in a recent

report by a senior British ornithologist.

According to a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Department, the

problem of birdstrikes was a universal one and basically was a phenomenon

of the jet age.

"It is a significant problem," he said, "and a number of short-term

measures are being taken to contain it as far as possible until a more permanent

solution is found."

Special bird patrols had been introduced, he explained, to discourage

birds from frequenting the runway and marksmen from the Fire Services Department

were sent out from time to time to shoot them, under special suspension of bird

protection regulations.

More comprehensive statistics are also being compiled on birdstrikes

and the bodies of dead birds collected from the runway are sent to the

Agriculture and Fisheries Department for biological examination.

+

/Between