THE conflux of major incidents in the Philippine Aviation Industry a bit delayed the publication of this information for the education of the riding public in particular, and the stakeholders as a whole.
Just as my pen was about to push comment on the Xiamen Airlines incident at the Manila International Airport, which cancelled or delayed flights and stranded thousands of passengers, my memory brought me a few years back to the incident here in Davao where a Cebu Pacific flight also suffered a similar fate.
Days ago, another bird strike incident at the Davao International Airport, affecting PAL flight 2815, bound for Manila. The bird strike rekindles memories of such incidents which resulted in damaged engine.
Though bird strikes do happen anywhere around the world, there ought to be innovative measures aside from the scarecrow methods implemented by the Civil Aviation entities. Credit is to be given to airline companies who designed the appearances of the plane to avert these birds who are attracted to aircrafts’ landing and taking off.
Studies proved that flying a drone, swarms of birds came to fly with the drone by instinct, thinking the drone was part of their flock.
Another (off the press) occurrence on August 24 where there was one important concern with the peculiar weather-related conditions at the Davao International Airport and its approaches. An airline company explained there are times of WIND SHEAR or a change of wind speed perpendicular to the wind's direction which is particularly hazardous to aircraft departing or arriving.
Wind shear is usually associated with thunderstorms, such as what affected flights in Davao International Airport last August 24, 2018, during heavy rains in the evening.
In the end, no matter what nature brings in our skies, prayers should begin and end our daily grind.
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