Birds are small but they are a huge threat on the runway. LiuZhihua gets a peek at how Beijing Capital International Airportcontrols its bird population. Dressed in a blue uniform, Sui Guohui, 42, blends into the crowd atthe busy Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA). But his jobis critical in ensuring the safety of everyone at the airport,especially those who are getting on airplanes. Sui leads a team of bird population control officers at BCIA, whichhas one of the world's largest passenger throughputs annually. "I'm under great pressure every single minute. The task soundssimple, but it is very tricky and important," Sui says. Birds on the runway are a threat to airplane safety. If theycollide with incoming or departing aircraft, they can cause massivestructural damages. And an airplane disaster could happen if justone bird enters the engines, Sui explains. With some 30 of his colleagues, Sui has adopted various methods toprevent bird strikes from happening. On the grass patches close to runways, there are bird-frighteningdevices such as automatic bird distress recorders, automatic gasexploders and raptor-like kites, to stop birds from coming close.There is also Wire Mesh Products, about 6 meters tall, to block birds fromentering the runways. Farther away, the airport covers gutters surrounding the runwayswith colorful banners, which function like scarecrows. There is also a special team which patrols the runways regularly onvehicles that broadcast sounds to frighten away birds. This team ofofficers also mow the grass to prevent it from overgrowing andspray pesticides to ward off pests, food for the birds. "All these are preventive methods to control the birds but there isno guarantee," Sui says. "People around me know that every time I look unhappy, I must havedreamt of bird strikes the night before." Sui witnessed his first bird attack on Sept 22, 1997, which is nowknown as "black Friday" among his colleagues. It started out as a normal day until a few swallows showed up atthe airport at noon. Without a second thought, the runway maintenance team shot at thebirds using guns. During that time, shooting was the method usedmost at the airport to prevent bird strikes. The swallows disappeared, to the relief of everyone. But at about 2 pm, flocks of swallows descended on the airport, asif on a revenge mission. "We were stunned," Sui says. "The runways were infested withswallows. Up in the air, there were so many birds that they blockedthe sun." Airport workers did all they could to chase the birds away. Some shot at the birds, some went on cars and trucks to frightenthem, and others used brooms, gongs and drums. "But all the methods were useless," Sui recalls. "In the end, the airport was forced to stop operations, until thebirds flew away themselves." Although no accident happened, the event was a wake-up call forBCIA, prompting it to establish a bird dispersal patrol team. Suiwas appointed to lead the team of four. "I love birds, but since then, I view every bird as a threat," Suisays. Initially, the team had only one car and several guns but they weresoon equipped with imported devices, such as gas exploders and birdrepellers. Unfortunately, in September 1998, history repeated itself. Hundredsof thousands of swallows descended upon the airport again. Evenwith the help of paramilitary police, they couldn't eliminate theswallows. The airport was once again shut for several hours. "We realized that relying on the scaring system was too passive,"Sui says. Sui went on a research spree, and made defeating birds his lifemission. "Birds are smart. They learn to ignore those alien sounds andobjects once they find them harmless," Sui says. "I changed the ideology of dealing with the birds - to be proactiveinstead of reactive." Instead of killing or scaring birds away, Sui tried to understandwhy they came and how to keep them away. Research on the airport's surroundings reveals that the environmentprovides a conducive habitat for birds. The green area around the airport breeds insects and suppliesseeds, which attract small birds and in turn, these are prey forbigger birds. The BCIA is also located along the routes of migratory birds, suchas swallows and gulls. "Following the ecological chain was like discovering the missingpieces of a puzzle," Sui says. Today, the core responsibility of Sui's team is to control ratherthan to scare away birds. Sui says since 1999, they have been mowing the grass and usingpesticides to control the growth of grass, keeping the height toless than 20 cm so that rats and other pests won't breed. The teamalso constantly destroys birds' nests in the nearby forests. "In this way, the total number of birds can be reducedsignificantly," Sui says. In recent years, BCIA has only encountered a few small birds on therunways, but there has been no major bird strike. "It is impossible to be totally bird-free, but we are doing ourbest," Sui says. I'm an expert responsible for promoting a good online shopping platform China Wire Mesh Products, it contains numerous high-quality items such as China Wire Mesh Products, for more information please visit our website! I am an expert from wire-cabletray.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Wire Mesh Products , China Cable Tray System, Wire Storage Cage,and more.
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