D.A.S.H - Dog Aircraft Strike Hazard

Aircrafts, while taking-off or landing, face the potential risk of colliding with birds. BASH is a hazardous situation for the pilot where one or more engines of the aircraft may have to be shut down in-flight.Sometimes, the takeoff has to be aborted due to a bird strike.

While pilots are well versed with BASH, there is perhaps no manual for them to refer and figure out the response to other hazards that afflicts some Indian airport. One of these afflictions was recently experienced by a Kingfisher aircraft, in Bangalore.The aircraft hit a dog. Let us call it DASH - for Dog Aircraft Strike Hazard. Sure, dogs don't fly but they sometimes stroll on the runway colliding with an aircraft taking off or landing. A variant of this could be CASH - Cat Aircraft Strike Hazard.

There have been questions in the Parliament about NASH - which is Nilgai Aircraft Strike Hazard.Nilgai's routinely hit the runway at the Ranchi and Patna airports. Don't know what an Nilgai is? Well this is a Nilgai:



If an ATR-72 hits a Nilgai,on ground, the Nilgai may walk away unscathed but the aircraft may have to be permanently grounded.


ATR-72

A report (sic) prepared by the Indian Institue of Science, in 2007,says that Jackals, Pangolins, Snakes, Monitor Lizards, Jungle Cats, Mongoose and a variety of avifauna live in and around Devanahalli. The report on reptiles of Devanahalli has recorded 21 snake species in and around the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA).

The safety manual for pilots,perhaps, needs an urgent upgradation.