Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Zurich to London Swiss flight LX-332 Sunday 31 October was spooked by a Halloween surprise, hitting a bird as it took off. The plane’s crew decided to return its 194 passengers to the airport, reports Air Crash Observer, and they were placed on other flights. Switzerland’s two main airports in Geneva and Zurich each have 30-50 bird strikes a year. The airport safety programmes have created bird strike committees and the incidents are closely monitored.
Switzerland is on a main north-south migratory path for birds and in recent years the airports have stepped up their fauna protection programmes for air safety reasons, but also to safeguard native and transitory wildlife.
Background, GenevaLunch: “Travelers flock to Geneva; so do birds”, 20 October 2009
Geneva's Cointrin Airport Saturday 17 October: long lines, but quick service
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – British Airways flight A319 turned back Wednesday 14 October after striking a bird at Cointrin Airport while climbing out of Geneva, reports Aviation Herald, which tracks airline incidents. The crew reportedly landed in Geneva 12 minutes after takeoff, after noticing a burning smell: emergency services were on standby, and the flight was delayed by two hours.
The incident was not, in fact, that unusual, but it might have given pause to the crowds of people flying out of Geneva Saturday 17 October at the start of the Geneva school holidays. The new security check area, which has replaced the old passport control booths, had two long lines of travelers, but the system appeared to operate efficiently: some 300 people were moved through several security gates in 20 minutes.
Noise guns to disperse birds in a direction away from the tarmac are used after other preventive measures fail
Cointrin takes its bird incidents very seriously: “bird strikes” as they are known in the business cause the aviation world $1.1 billion a year and they can provoke deadly airline crashes, such as one at JFK airport in New York in 1975 and another in Paris in 1996. Geneva airport had more than 60 strikes in 2008, but most caused no serious harm and only a handful were responsible for more serious damage, according to airport figures.
