Article Posted on : - Aug 14, 2011

NEW DELHI (PTI): To tackle the menace of birds flying around its bases and putting the fighter aircraft in danger, Indian Air Force (IAF) is now looking out for procuring sophisticated radars to monitor bird activity as an integral part of its flight safety procedure.

Besides monitoring their movement, the avian radars will help in studying the flying pattern of birds at different hours of the day.

"Avian radars help in locating, tracking and monitoring movements of birds. These radars are used as an integral part of flight safety procedure," an IAF official said.

IAF has an Ornithology Cell under the Directorate of Aerospace Safety to reduce bird hit cases and the cell has completed bird survey at 28 flying bases.

"While monitoring bird activity, we have to look at various aspects. The pattern of bird movement and their flight schedule varies as per the terrain. Birds are more active at a low altitude during sunrise and sunset when they go out in search of food and come back to their nests respectively," the official said.

Apart from studying their flying habits, the avian radars will help in collecting data on other aspects such the height, numbers and density of birds in a particular area.

These radars would help IAF's bird watching teams in specifying their areas of activity and density. It will help in ensuring there is no bird movement in the flight path of an aircraft during its take off and landing.

The data collected with the help of these radars would further be analysed at the Ornithology Cell.