Tech on flights may end delays

New Delhi: There's some hope for fliers fed up of hovering for anywhere up to 90 minutes before landing at Mumbai's choked airport in peak hours.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has sought DGCA nod to begin testing a hi-tech procedure that could allow aircraft to land on Mumbai's secondary runway from the obstacle side of Trombay Hill.
The procedure involves using Required Navigation Performance (RNP) to land at the secondary runway (14/32) by bypassing the Trombay Hill. Aircraft having this hi-tech system on board and being flown by specially trained crew will be required to follow a very specific flight path to land on this side of the runway.
The success of this system-which has no room for error of deviating from specified path-is crucial for Mumbai's airport. At present, both the main and secondary runways can be used for take-off with the former being used mainly by international departures and latter by domestic flights.
"But landing happens only on main runway from Kurla side. When there's rush hour for departures, we can have planes leave one after other from both runways. But when there's arrival rush hour, only one runway can be used and that leads to congestion,'' said a top AAI official. The authority has devised procedure for landing on secondary runway from Trombay Hill side and if this works, both runways could be used in peak arrival time and help cut hovering time.
24/12/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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

Categories: Airports Dec 2009