MIAA fights bird flu with air guns

No birds allowed.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) is well-armed against migratory birds that will cloud the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and its runways in the coming weeks, using electronic squeaking sounds, air guns and your good old-fashioned scarecrow.

Engineer Octavio "Bing" Lina, MIAA assistant general manager for operations assured authorities they were prepared to deal with the usual plovers and egrets that flock to the area of the NAIA compound come October to December.

Lina said his men conduct routine round-the-clock patrols armed with air guns to scare off the migratory birds that find their way to the NAIA airspace.

"They have air pistols, they shoot the migratory birds with. These are only air guns used to scare off the birds and not really hurt them," Lina told the STAR.

The MIAA also has an AVA alarm and sound system that is used to scare off the migratory birds that usually come to the Philippines to seek refuge from the cold brought on by the winter season in China and Japan.

"We have a variety of sounds because after a period of time, the birds get used to a particular sound so we change it periodically," Lina added.

This system, it was learned, detects movement in certain areas of the runway and gives off squawking and squeaking sounds to scare off the birds.

Aside from the sound alarm system and the air guns, Lina said they also post scarecrows in certain grassy areas of the runway area to scare off the migratory birds.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Health are currently monitoring the arrival and movement of migratory birds in the Philippine skies and flocking areas due to the threat of the flu virus besetting most of its Asian neighbors.

MIAA’s alert against the migratory birds, however, is more to address aviation safety concerns due to a reported increase in "birdstrike" incidents or incidence of aircraft problems due to the crashing or collision of birds with airplanes taking off or landing at international airports.

Chief Superintendent Andres Caro, Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group chief, said that as a result of birdstrike concerns, they have gone the rounds of the villages and subdivisions around the NAIA complex to urge homeowners and establishments to refrain from raising pigeons and doves to prevent them from clouding the airport airspace.