Yeti Airlines ATR72-500 ‘9N-AMM’ encountered fox strike incident yesterday during night flight at Nepalgunj Airport. The aircraft encountered ‘foxstrike’ during the landing roll on the runway at around 8 pm.
According to an airport official, no serious damage has been reported to the aircraft. All the passengers and crew inside the aircraft have also been reported safe.
However, the flight of Buddha Air in sequence to land after Yeti Airlines was affected as it had to stay on hold for nearly an hour.
“Pilot reported us about the incident after landing”, he said. We went down to inspect the aircraft, but no damage was observed he added. After a few minutes, they cleaned the runway with the use of fire trucks and the operation came to normal. The engineer also checked the aircraft and reported no danger before releasing the aircraft for another flight to Kathmandu.
This unusual incident of a fox entering the runway is however not the first time in Nepal. It has been occurring time and again in the airports of Terai as well as the sole international airport of the country TIA. The official stated that there is a forest near the airport zone and the local people cutting grasses near to airport have become a threat to the security of the airport, he added.
This incident also reflects the negligence of airport authorities towards the fencing of the airport premises. The foreign object invading the runway can be prevented largely with the improvement of fencing.
The official claimed that following the incident, they have planned to organize a meeting on this topic and will take definite steps to stop such incident happening in the future.
