ATC blames poor upkeep for radar failure at Delhi airport

New Delhi: A blame game over the radar collapse at the Air Traffic Control (ATC) of the Delhi airport has begun with the ATC citing ‘improper maintenance’ of equipment by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) as the reason for the collapse.
An AAI technical team was responsible for maintenance of the ATC equipment for the last two years. Before that, it was carried out by US-based defence software company Raytheon. On Thursday evening, the radar system of ATC at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport stopped working for more than an hour, delaying at least 200 flights by up to three hours. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has launched a probe, headed by Joint Director General A K Chopra.
According to a source at the ATC, what added to the officials woes was that the backup system Catastrophic Direct Radar Access (CDRA), which is switched on during such circumstances, did not function on Thursday night when the incident occurred.
17/01/10 Business Standard

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010, Safety Jan 2010