November 2012 - Indian Airforce

had guns which were in poor condition and were
being wielded by humans who were even worse
marksmen.
There was a sudden flutter amongst their
ranks which soon settled down. They could hear
some avian distress calls emanating from devices
installed on runway edges. The leader sniggered.
This was hilarious. It was like tickling them. These
bird calls were not specific and weren’t going
to do them any harm. The ‘Zon Guns’ too which
were banging away at the same old locations in
the background, sounded like monotonous noisy
friends.
Time to get out of the danger zone! The
wave managed to reach ‘Alottafilth Nagar’ and
carried out a successful recce of the prospective
feeding ground. It was great that the admin
safety establishment at ‘Can’t Believe My Rotten
Luck’ had so far been unable to influence the civic
authorities of ‘Alottafilth Nagar’ regarding proper
garbage disposal in the vicinity of the airfield. The
exit via the sulphur springs was horrendous. The
definition of stink was rewritten for generations to
come. But no ground fire or air interceptions were
encountered. Mission accomplished without any
further attrition!
That night, the wizened old leader sat on his
perch and mulled over the missions he had flown
in all these years. One mission blended into the
next as he fast forwarded them in his tiny mind.
And then it came to him. It was the humans who
were not designed to fly and yet were flying
supersonic jets, had more brains and yet were
intruding into their airspace. The onus of safety
was on the humans. The birds had to go about
the business of looking for food everyday and the
humans had to ....., well they had to fly too I guess.
Maybe we just had to look out and stay out of
each other’s way much more than we were doing.
Happy Landings!
-Wg Cdr N Dhar
Solutions to the Air Traffic Control Puzzle
INDIAN AIR FORCE 2 0 1 2 N o v e m b e r Aerospace Safety 31