20160220 India Fire at Lucknow airport runway, eight flights affected
India Feb 20 2016 “Other”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Fire at Lucknow airport runway, eight flights affected
Updated: 2016-02-20-20:19
Flight operations at Amausi airport came to a halt for nearly half an hour on Saturday afternoon after side strip of runway caught fire. The incident was reported to have occurred because of crackers which were burst by the airport staff to scare away the birds.
According to reports, high humidity and a cloudy weather saw few birds hovering over runway and apron area. This was just around 1.45 pm when two aircraft — both of them from Delhi were about to land. An alert was sounded and the airport staff rushed towards the runway with bunch of crackers and started bursting them. Situation turned worse when a patch of grass, apparently dried up, on the side strip of run way caught fire.
The flames were soon bellowing over the runway. Left red faced, the airport administration had no option but to held back take off of five aircraft, asked one from Delhi to divert itself and two others to hold themselves in the air.
Airport director, SC Hota said that the delay was there for nearly half an hour. “The fire was swiftly controlled with the help of fire tenders,” he said.
The bird scare has become a cause of concern mainly during the cloudy weather. Last year, a bird hit an aircraft headed to Delhi with 147 passengers on board. The Delhi-bound Indigo flight (6E-147), with a scheduled departure time of 11.00am, had started taxing on the runway and was about to take off when a bird hit its engine. It took nearly five hours to repair the aircraft. Ever since the airport authorities have been using `sutli’ bombs to scare away the birds.
Web Source: THE TIMES OF INDIA
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Fire-at-Lucknow-airport-runway-eight-flights-affected/articleshow/51070462.cms