Tech boost for Calcutta runway fog fight

Calcutta: Flights will be able to take off and land next winter even if visibility drops to 50 metres.
The advanced Category III Instrument Landing System (CAT III-ILS) will be installed on the primary runway, which is now fitted with CAT II-ILS that operates when visibility is at least 350 metres. But there were several disruptions in December and January as visibility dropped below 350 metres because of dense fog.
CAT III B —- the other two CAT III systems are A and C —will be installed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport so that flights can operate even when visibility drops 300 metres below that.
“We are planning to install an advanced ILS equipment in March. The new system will be more precision-based and compatible with CAT III,” said P.K. Singhal, the regional executive director of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), eastern region. “Some other support systems, too, would be needed to upgrade the system to CAT III.
CAT III B is the most advanced ILS in the country, installed only at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.The advanced ILS must have a back-up circuit and an additional generator to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the runway lights. “There is a back-up generator which we operate when the visibility is low but we need another to make the system CAT III-compatible,” said an airport official.A key component of CAT III is the surface movement ground control system — a radar used for monitoring flights after they land. “The system, to cost Rs 4 crore, will be installed in around three months,” Singhal said.
02/02/09 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports Feb 2009