Latest ATC software to cut down IGI delays next year

New Delhi: Flying into Delhi and Mumbai will soon get safer with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) installing the latest ATC software similar to the one used at the best airports of the world. While Mumbai is strained, the new system promises to cut down on delays in Delhi.
The existing ATC software, Raytheon Auto Track II system, is being upgraded to track III that will immediately generate alerts if an aircraft is heading to a no fly zone or if the flight level asked for by a pilot is likely to converge with some other aircraft.
The new system, that is currently being tested in Delhi and Mumbai, is likely to be made operational by early 2010. It also has an "arrival manager'' tool that will allow avoiding of congestion. With three runways, this will be of more use in Delhi than the bursting-at-seams Mumbai where only a new airport can tackle the issue of congestion.
"The flow management system of track III will generate a list of arrivals over a given period of time. If there is `bunching' at any time with too many planes arriving at the same time band, the traffic manager can either ask some planes to slow their approach to Delhi or speed up to beat the congestion,'' said a senior ATC official.
The existing system has a short-term collision alert that generates warning if two aircraft are likely to get dangerously close with their intended paths breaching the minimum distance both lateral and vertical at some point.
20/10/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Oct 2009