Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) yesterday said it would soon launch a new radar system called BSTAR to reduce bird-strike-related accidents and enhance aviation safety at the nation’s largest international airport, the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
The airport company said that BSTAR, a bird detection radar system manufactured by Syracuse-based SRC Inc, evolved and was modified from a lightweight countermortar radar used by the US Army.
“The main characteristic of the new system is its use of active electronically scanned array radar, with an effective detection distance for a single bird-strike event of 6 nautical miles [11.12km],” the company said.
“The system also gathers other relevant information through the use of a three-dimensional integrated electronic map. The information collected by the radar system would then be relayed to air traffic control officers, who could assess whether flights should be informed to avoid passing through areas prone to bird-strike accidents. Meanwhile, the system helps the airport to monitor the movement of birds in order to drive them away if they start posing a threat to flight safety,” the company added.
According to TIAC, the cost of installing such a system topped approximately NT$80 million (US$2.6 million), which covers construction of the necessary infrastructure as well as the labor costs of workers performing 24-hour manual operation of the system for six years.
The installation of the radar system is scheduled to be completed by June this year.
The company said that the contractor had recommended 11 locations around the airport in which the facilities involved in the radar system could be installed, as well as the main and secondary areas subject to its surveillance.
The company added that each location proposed by the contractor would be carefully evaluated.
Aside from installation of the bird-detection radar system, the airport company said that it would fell all trees around the airport, set up bird nets along a river running next to the runways and continue investigating the types of birds that regularly make an appearance at the airport.
Meanwhile, the number of bird-strike incidents at the airport has fallen from 64 in 2012 to 49 last year, according to the company.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS