November 12: It's a hi-tech scarecrow that can help shoo away birds at the domestic and international terminals at Mumbai airport during flight take-offs and landings. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) have conducted trial runs of a sonic machine, Zon Mark 2 Scarecrow Gun, known as Zon Gun. The machine is already operational at the New Delhi and Patna domestic airports. In fact, New Delhi's Indira Gandhi Airport was the first to install the German made zon Gun last November, along the lines of the one already operational at the Hindon Air Force base in Haryana.Though no order has been placed for these imported zon guns at the Mumbai airport, sources say the successful trial runs indicate that soon, the Zon Gun could be installed at th Chhatrapati Shivaji International Terminus.Priced at Rs 36,000, the three-feet-tall zon gun is an LPG cylinder operated device with a rotating barrel which booms roughly every 30 to 40 seconds. The sonic blast measures around 100 to 125 decibels and it can drive awaybirds in an area of approximately two to three acres of land.The Delhi-based dealer of zon gun, Rajesh Tandon of Srijan Systems Pvt Ltd, told Express Newsline: ``Presently the AAI has employed bird chasers who burst firecrackers near the runway. However, since the zon system has effectively worked in Delhi and Patna, we are sure that more civil airports will also try out these modern-day scarecrows.''AAI sources even have the economics of using a zon gun worked out: There can be 25,000 blasts for just Rs 285; while crackers are a more expensive proposition, besides being clumsy, costing Rs 2 per piece.The branch secretary of the AAI Workers Union, L S Dewarde, welcomed the proposal. ``Since 1988, the AAI have employed 24 bird chasers who work round the clock to keep the tarmac bird-free. The gadget has already been tested here, but the official order has yet to come from the head-quarters in Delhi,'' he added.Captain M R Wadia of the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), commented: ``Birdmenace at airports is a universal phenomenon and has to be dealt with keeping the local conditions in mind. For example, Canada has suffered losses worth $ 300 million due to bird hits (mainly large migratory birds being sucked into the engine) in the last one year; but the total number of bird hits in India is not really known due to lack of openness in the Indian bureaucracy.''Surveys conducted on bird behaviour indicate that after a meal, birds like a spot of rest. In fact, in winter some species like to rest on the tarmac to absorb its warmth. Which is why the AAI undertakes regular inspection of the areas surrounding the runway to keep the zone free of garbage and carcasses.``However, mushrooming of slums around the airport has made this task difficult,'' said the honorary secretary of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), J C Daniel. Thirty species of birds, mainly pariah kites, eagles, crows and pigeons are normally sighted near the runway throughout the year, he added.However, there have notbeen no major bird-hits in Mumbai. On September 15 this year, the Indian Airlines Delhi-Mumbai flight IC 863 was fortunate enough to avoid a crash when the plane collided with a flock of large migratory birds at 24,000 feet. The black radone at the nose of the aircraft was damaged, and blood had splattered on the windshield.
