BIAL in a hurry; norm given go-by

Bangalore: In a hurry to get the Bengaluru International Airport fully operationalised by March 29, is the BIAL rushing through the extremely critical Air Traffic Control (ATC) facility?
The calibration flight to check the ATC operations is likely to take off only on March 10, which means the airport will be fully operational even before the ATC’s mandatory 1,000-hour hot-standby mode period is completed.
For the calibration trials, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is scheduled to fly its own aircraft equipped to measure a slew of technical parameters related to the Communication, Navigation, Surveillance -- Air Traffic Management (CNS-ATM) equipment, all attached to the ATC.
After the calibration flight, the equipment should be placed in hot-standby mode for a thousand hours. Only on completion of this period (about 42 days) is the CNS-ATM fully operationalised. “This is the norm worldwide,” a highly placed airport official told Deccan Herald.
The March 29 deadline leaves BIAL just 19 days to ensure that the ATC is capable of withstanding all operational challenges. The 42-day hot-standby mode period would mean the ATC facility could be completely ready for the highly critical job on all counts, only after April 21.
07/03/08 Rasheed Kappan/Deccan Herald

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Categories: Airports Mar 2008, New Mar 2008, Safety Mar 2008