Landing a tall order at airport?

New Delhi Descending on Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport would now be a multi-religious sight for air travellers, as well as for other commuters passing the airport on National Highway-8. The Birla Kanan, which sports a massive 80-foot-tall statue of Shiva on NH-8, will soon have another structure: a 54-feet statue of Buddha.
The venue of the two giant statues is just over a kilometre from the tip of the IGI Airport’s newest runway, 29-11.
The Shiva statue was considered a hazard to flights only after the third runway — touted as India’s longest — became operational last year.
The location of the statues, present and upcoming, is in the funnel area of landing: the point from where an aircraft begins to descend. The result? Of what is touted as the longest runway, only 2,443 metres out of the 4,430 metres can actually be used.
In effect, this makes it the shortest runway: 133 metres shorter than the shortest runway, 27-09, which stands at 2,310 metres.
The Shiva statue is a total of 80 feet above the ground — 65 metres of actual statue plus the 15-foot pedestal — and has been an obstruction for pilots approaching to land on the runway from the east. Pilots say they have to keep the statue in mind before beginning the final descent for touchdown.
But even as another statue waits to make its place near the runway, pilots insist there is nothing to worry till electronic devices installed on the runway are working fine.
“The statue needs us to maintain a certain vertical distance as a mandatory requirement,” a senior pilot said. “But so long as the instrument landing system works fine, there is no problem. The only issue is, a major portion of the runway remains under-utilised.
24/11/09 Geeta Gupta/Express India

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Categories: Airports Nov 2009