Spin out of control

The recent failure of the sophisticated air traffic control system at the Delhi international airport, during peak evening hours, takes one back to the fundamentals of flying at a time of increasing congestion in the air corridors over Indian skies. To fly an aircraft in an emergency without radar guidance or navigational directions from the air traffic controller, a pilot has to depend on ‘visual flight rules’ as well as the attitude direction indicator if the speedometer and altimeter are functional. The ADI is equipped to indicate whether the aircraft’s nose is facing ‘up’ or ‘down’, and how it is placed geometrically vis-à-vis the flight path. On the other hand, the speed and height measuring meter would provide the pilot with basic inputs that would enable him to land under ‘blind’ conditions — a time when the machines in the control tower are ‘down’.
In fact, the forefathers of the present fliers could not afford the luxury of flying with these modern gadgets — both airborne and land-based — to cover their missions from take-off to touchdown. Today’s pilots are luckier. They command a fat professional fee, and different kinds of flying gadgets have taken over the many aspects of the hazardous job that was once done by man. Pilots of yesteryear, however, had more fun while flying planes. They were also at a higher risk, owing to primitive technology, and the comparatively inferior infrastructure that was in place then.
Seen in this background, the failure of the ATC system at the airport in Delhi can indeed be seen as a major lapse on the part of the overall airport command systems management in the capital. Why does one say so? Has not airport infrastructure improved ever since the slow, sarkari Airports Authority of India handed over ownership to ‘efficient and professionally managed’ private enterprises?
21/01/10 Abhijit Bhattacharyya/The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010, Safety Jan 2010