Not so safe flights

Recent incidents in Delhi have raised questions about the state of our aviation equipment. The media reported the January 9 failure of the ILS and the January 14 radar failure with great concern. Security had been our principal preoccupation ever since the IC184 hijacking in late 1999, but now safety is replacing it.
The recent ILS failure was caused by a problem with the Runway Visual Range (RVR) system, which provides visibility levels to pilots from three locations on the runway. On January 9, the RVR was not functioning from the last location on the runway, meaning that under low-visibility conditions pilots were unable to land using the ILS. It was later discovered that the wire connecting the last instrument had been cut off during work on the runway. Delhiites should be familiar with such scenarios as underground cables are frequently cut off due to roadwork. But we cannot treat our airports in the same callous way in which the PWD treats the capital’s roads.
However, the most serious concern in the RVR failure is that the failsafe mechanism did not work. Normally, the RVR’s wireless mode should have functioned in lieu of the wire that had got cut off.
Five days later, on January 14, there was another technological failure—a radar malfunction. The radar software upgrade malfunctioned while uploading and switched off. There was no backup for at least 45 minutes.
19/01/10 Sanat Kaul/Financial Express

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010, Safety Jan 2010