Radars shut down for maintenance

Tambaram: Radars of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Chennai airport were shut down in an organised manner as part of regular maintenance, and the resultant delays in flights were only minimal and well within the acceptable procedures, according to senior officers of the Airports Authority of India.
The radars were shut down on Tuesday evening to carry out routine maintenance and their operations were carried out manually.
The shutdown was timed for the relatively lean hours of operation at the Chennai airport and pilots were informed well in advance about the alternative manual signalling and guidance of aircraft once they touched the runway.
Additional lights and signalling equipment were also installed to ensure that there was no disruption in flight services.
The maintenance was carried out to ensure that the signalling systems were permanently available without any hindrance to air traffic, officials said.
17/05/07 The Hindu

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Categories: Airports May 2007, Safety May 2007