Flight safety at Taipei International Airport (Songshan) is under scrutiny following the release of a survey that showed that 10 locations near the airport were frequented by wild pigeons, increasing the chances of birds striking planes and causing accidents.
The survey, conducted by the Flight Safety Foundation-Taiwan, tracked the movement of the pigeons using radio waves from January until the middle of May. It identified 10 locations in which flocks of wild pigeons are constantly observed.
The foundation said most of those locations were less than 1km from the airport’s runways.
Photo: Yao Chieh-hsiu, Taipei Times
The closest was at Chengmei Riverside Park (成美河濱公園), which is only 300m away from the runways, followed by Yingfeng Riverside Park (迎風河濱公園), which is 390m from the runways. The former averaged 149 birds, while the latter attracted an average of 98 birds.
The farthest location was Minsheng Park (民生公園), about 1.27km from the runways, the report showed.
The foundation said pigeons gathering at Chengmei Riverside Park and Xinsheng Park (新生公園) were potential threats to landing aircraft because they were close to the end of the runway.
Pigeons at the Yingfeng Riverside Park could affect aircraft during takeoff, the foundation said.
The foundation established that the pigeons were gathering at those locations because people were feeding them.
The report said the pigeons would congregate in flocks around certain feeders at certain hours, adding that the flocks were bigger when there are more feeders around.
The foundation said most people did not associate feeding pigeons with flight safety.
While there are signs in the park banning pigeon feeding, the foundation said that they did little to help control the number of wild pigeons because they did not explain to the public why such behavior was prohibited.
The government cannot fine pigeon feeders because there is no penalty for the behavior.
The foundation said the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) should amend the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法) by stipulating fines for pigeon feeders.
Currently, the CAA has banned those living within 5km of the runway from raising pigeons. Those raising pigeons in the restricted area could be fined between NT$300,000 (US$10,332) and NT$1.5 million and pigeon lofts would be torn down.
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