CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Bird strikes are one of the major threats to aviation safety. Once a bird hits a high-speed aircraft, the energy generated is equivalent to a car at high speed hitting a solid wall, which may cause damage to the aircraft and lead to a crash in serious cases. In Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, a group of people are guarding the air safety; that is, the anti-bird controllers.

Bird Strike Prevention Controllers, commonly known as anti-bird controllers, are mainly responsible for daily monitoring of bird activity situation, birds-driving, investigation of bird activity situation, ecological environment management and the implementation of effective prevention measures to reduce the occurrence of bird strikes and ensure the safety of aircraft and passengers.

Recently, Chongqing is so hot and sunny, and the whole flight area is without any shade under the scorching sun. Deng Di, the deputy leader of the Anti-bird Detachment of Field Protection Unit of the Flight Area Management Department, was inspecting the anti-bird nets. Working for his eighth year, he told us that the nets could scare and deter birds from crossing runways and taxiways without harming them.

"Bang, bang, bang!" The gas cannon on the tarmac made the sound of repelling birds. It is said that at present, the airport drives birds in a variety of forms and devices. In terms of audio repellents, it includes functional bird repellent vehicle, gas cannon and ultrasonic bird repellents; visual bird repellents have wind-powered bird repellents, colored bird repellent windmill, flags, bird scarecrow and flashing lights.

Yang Zhou, an anti-bird controller, used a hand-held gas cannon in the hot sun to repel birds. The 15-jin gas cannon hung from his body, leaving his head covered in beads of sweat. Yang Zhou explained, “hand-held gas cannons are used to scare birds away by sound without hurting them.” At present, the main way to drive birds is to control the ecological environment, supplemented by repelling. In addition to expelling birds, it is sometimes necessary to rescue birds that have been unfortunately “caught”.

At 17:00 p.m., after two anti-bird controllers patrolling the flight area spotted an errant bird trapped in the anti-bird net, they carefully removed it from the net.

This trapped little bird was a small, delicate kingfisher. The anti-bird net did not harm it. After these anti-bird controllers helped it out of its trap, it would be taken to a wild area away from the airport for release.

Under the scorching sun, the ground temperature of flight area is often above 50°C. Anti-bird controllers work 24-hour shifts and patrol the flight zone from 9 a.m. to 9 a.m. the next morning, making Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid their necessary summer medication.

Can you see colored bird repellent windmills on the tarmac and think they are decoration? Wrong! According to anti-bird controllers, birds are very sensitive to color. Therefore, putting such colored windmills on the tarmac can virtually repel birds.

The open lawns of an airport are one of the favorite habitats for birds. In addition to repelling birds, anti-bird controllers are also responsible for checking the growth of lawns, mow and kill insects on a regular basis to cut off the food chain for birds.

Recording information about bird species, flight and migration is also a way to make anti-bird controllers more bird-savvy. There is a tame room outside their office, in which there are several pigeons crossing the flight area. Anti-bird controllers will first observe the habits of birds in the tame room, and later will free them in the wild away from the airport. Bird strike prevention starts with learning and loving birds.

The anti-bird controllers used to inspect the anti-bird device in the flight area by themselves, which was inefficient. Since the introduction of the airport low-altitude safety monitoring platform last month, the system would automatically alarm as malfunction happened, so that anti-bird controllers could quickly dispose of the situation on the site. The efficiency has increased by at least 50%.

At Jiangbei International Airport, under the blue sky, one plane rushed to the sky, with the group of anti-bird controllers silently around the runway. It is the mission and wish of every anti-bird controller to guard the safety of every take-off and landing. (Translated by Wang Huixin, Fathom Language Limited)