Delhi airport on the blink again

New Delhi: A key communication system at the Indira Gandhi International Airport collapsed on Sunday evening, throwing air traffic into chaos for almost an hour, according to authoritative sources.
In Sunday’s incident, a system called the Drake system collapsed for four minutes, leading to over an hour of chaos.
No communication was possible in the 124.2 Mhz frequency through VHF sets configured to the approach area, he said.
The system, which had been configured to the VHF sets barely three days ago, went out of action during peak hour, around 8.40 pm.
Its collapse triggered shockwaves in the control tower as the 124.2 Mhz frequency is used for speaking to pilots approaching Delhi airport. When the system failed there were 20 aircraft hovering over Delhi airspace.
The communication glitch forced an abrupt closure of the twin-runway operations between at 8.30 pm and 10 pm.
23/10/07 Yogesh Kumar/Daily News & Analysis

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Oct 2007, Safety Oct 2007