Coast Guard 'Dornier' suffers bird hit: pilot safe

Kochi, Oct 6 (UNI) A major disaster was averted yesterday when a Dornier aircraft of the Coast Guard, on an 'operational sortie', suffered a bird hit in the vicinity of the Naval Air Station Garuda here.

However, due to the skills and experience of the pilot, the aircraft could taxi safely immediately thereafter.

''The accident could have assumed serious consequences should the aircraft have lost control and plunged into the oil tanks or even the thickly populated area close to the runway,'' a spokesman for the Southern Naval Command said here today.

He said the Navy has repeatedly highlighted the issue of flight safety to the Corporation of Kochi ever since dumping of garbage started in 2002 at Willingdon Island, close to the Naval airport.

The corporation should find a suitable alternate site prior to October-end as a measure to avoid re-occurrence of such accidents, he added.

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