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Air carrier flight crew reported that an airport was using fireworks to deter birds; causing a distraction on final approach.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1686399 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201909 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | VIDP.Airport |
| State Reference | FO |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B777 Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Landing |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Not Flying Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 104 Flight Crew Total 23000 Flight Crew Type 5366 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
Landing runway 11 at delhi. As aircraft was in the flare in the touchdown zone what I would describe a series of professional grade fireworks; multicolored/flowery; were lit off approximately near taxiway S3 and between taxiway Z and runway 11; where I show a red/yellow symbol on the airport chart.this took the crew by surprise and was very distracting at a critical time. The crew had no previous knowledge that this activity would happen. I briefly considered a go-around but felt the safest course of action was to land as I could not see any objects or obstacles on the runway ahead. The tower was queried with no explanation. Later the ground controller stated something about either 'bugs;' or 'birds.'I have never heard of professional grade pyrotechnics (display fireworks) being used to scare animals. Even if this is a common procedure the crew should be warned and the fireworks should not be set off so close to a runway that aircraft are landing on.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Air carrier flight crew reported that an airport was using fireworks to deter birds; causing a distraction on final approach.
Narrative: Landing Runway 11 at Delhi. As aircraft was in the flare in the touchdown zone what I would describe a series of professional grade fireworks; multicolored/flowery; were lit off approximately near Taxiway S3 and between Taxiway Z and Runway 11; where I show a red/yellow symbol on the airport chart.This took the crew by surprise and was very distracting at a critical time. The crew had no previous knowledge that this activity would happen. I briefly considered a go-around but felt the safest course of action was to land as I could not see any objects or obstacles on the runway ahead. The Tower was queried with no explanation. Later the Ground Controller stated something about either 'bugs;' or 'birds.'I have never heard of professional grade pyrotechnics (display fireworks) being used to scare animals. Even if this is a common procedure the crew should be warned and the fireworks should not be set off so close to a runway that aircraft are landing on.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.