Flying of kites near airport poses threat to cargo flights

TNN | Apr 22, 2020, 04:44 IST

Thiruvananthapuram: For the past few days, kites flying near the airport area have kept police officers on high alert. With no passenger flight operations at the airport, the kids in the locality surrounding the airport were found flying kites near airport approach and landing side. But, the new hobby is causing headache for airport authorities as cargo flights are landing and taking off at regular intervals.
Police have reported many incidents of kite flying near Fishermen colony, Sulaiman Street, Vallakadavu, Naduvath Temple and Pratheeksha flats in the past few days. Two cases were registered against people for lockdown violation in this regard. The latest incident was reported on Sunday, when children were found to be flying kites in area near Naduvath temple and Pratheeksha flats.
The airport officials observed some kites and alerted the police. “We had sighted some kites near airport and alerted the public through police. There was no flight operation at that time. There were no earlier incidents. During lockdown people are not aware about flights operations at airport. We alerted the police officers in three police stations to create awareness among the public in their station limits. They conducted patrolling in the area,” said C V Ravindran, airport director.
Kite flying near flight approach area may lead to safety issues. “We have been observing kite flying near airport for the last four to five days and we rushed to the spot to inform the public about the safety issue related to kite flying in the area. The recent case was reported from Poonthura, a thickly populated area where a group of children were flying kites. The children spending their holidays at home due to lockdown are flying the kites,” said Pradeep Kumar, sub inspector, Valiyathura police station.
A team of police officers from Pettah, Valiyathura and Poonthura police station conducted announcements in the area to prevent any such future incidents.
“We informed the public that airport is handling cargo flights during lockdown. Awareness activity such as patrolling and announcement using public announcement system was held on Sunday. We informed the residents association representatives and councillors to take initiative to prevent such incidents. We also gave warning that parents will be booked for lockdown violations if their children are found flying kites near airport,” added Pradeep.