Pilots fear rain effect, feel planes skid on runways

Mumbai Besides causing departure and arrival delays, heavy downpour at Mumbai airport has also resulted in anxiety among pilots. They say they can feel the aircraft skidding while approaching the intersetcing runways of the airport. Speaking to Newsline, many pilots said the condition of runways after heavy showers is such that you could feel the aircraft skidding on the runway after touchdown.
“The runways are extremely slippery after rains and if you sit inside the cockpit you will feel the aircraft skidding and it becomes very difficult to control it,” said a senior pilot from Jet Airways.
“A critical safety concern at airports is the runway surface condition. Water and rubber deposits can make the runway slippery, causing loss of control during braking. It also makes surface movements hazardous,” states the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Research & Development branch on runway safety.
The fact that Mumbai’s cross-runways are considered sub-standard by many airlines and pilots is well known. “A critical point is the fact that there is little awareness on the issue and only the pilots face the brunt,” said an Air India pilot. “After touchdown, till the aircraft comes to almost a standstill, we use only automatic brakes or else the plane would easily overshoot the runway,” he added.
But senior MIAL officials, on condition of anonymity, bluntly say that there was hardly any proper upkeep of the airport’s runways under the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
MIAL is presently undertaking a major overhauling work of the airport’s secondary runway — the 9,596 feet long runway which, officials say, is often waterlogged at its end. Also, according to the spokesperson, major reconstruction of the airport’s main runway is also in the pipeline, although the exact dates are still to be worked out.
20/07/09 Shashank Shekhar /Indian Express

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

Categories: Airports Jul 2009, Safety Jul 2009