Fees to Be Levied for Dump-and-Runs at DEL
Jackie Reddy December 22, 2016
Planes flying into Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) are to be fined for dumping human waste over residential areas.
Carriers in India are to be fined Rs 50,000 ($737) for dumping human waste in mid-air, the country’s National Green Tribunal (NGT) has decreed. The fine will be enforced by the nation’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s civil aviation authority.
The issue was brought to the attention of the NGT after it heard testimony from a member of the public who claimed that the terrace of his house in south Delhi was being repeatedly soiled by human waste falling from passing planes.
The man, Lieutenant Gen (Retd) Satwant Singh Dahiya, told the Hindustan Times that, “For over a week now, we found that walls and floors of our terrace are splattered with large patches of excreta dumped by aircraft flying in front of Palam airport [also known as Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)] at night. The last time it happened early in October, we had to spend Rs 50,000 to get the exterior painted.”
The NGT also asked an engineer from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), part of India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, to inspect the house and if necessary, obtain a sample of the waste from Lieutenant General Dahiya’s home for testing.
The CPCB confirmed that the sample was human waste, but said that it could not be conclusively proved that it was dumped from a plane.
Commenting on the findings, the NGT said that, “We are surprised to note the stand of CPCB to the extent of coliform and the kind of splashes created on the houses of the petitioner as well as others clearly demonstrate that it was human excreta.”
The NGT has also directed the DGCA to carry out surprise inspections upon incoming planes at DEL to insure that craft have not jettisoned waste over residential areas.
While human waste is normally stored in special tanks, which are emptied upon landing, aviation experts acknowledged to the BBC that leaks can sometimes occur in mid-air. A senior pilot told the news outlet that toilet tanks were not emptied in-flight with the exception of, “a rare emergency measure like emptying fuel tanks.”
[Photo: Shutterstock]
Allan38103, What can happen is a toilet leak. Seeps out of the aircraft and freezes to the outside of fuselage. Thaws just before landing and drops out of the sky. If lucky, it's disintegrates and evaporates. If not, it comes down either as a chuck of ice or something a bit less frozen. But you're right in that it can't be done by the crew intentionally.
I'm calling BS on this story. How is it even possible that a plane can dump the contents of its toilets from the air? And why? If a plane is just taking off, or is about to land, and is presumably just minutes from the ground either way. And bravo to the pilots of the planes who can hit a specific house from a moving plane - (the same house) more than once- while addressing the tasks of taking off or landing. Not gonna happen. Check the facts on this one.