The Mumbai Airport on Thursday plunged into darkness and flight movements were disrupted for about twenty minutes when the runway lights went off abruptly.
Several flights were delayed and two planes, which were ready for touchdown, had to keep circling above the runway till the problem was fixed.
This is the second time in two years that runway lights at Mumbai Airport malfunctioned. The latest incident flouts strict international norms regarding the operation and maintenance of runway lights.
As per the norms laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, when airport system fails, runway lights must be restored within 15 seconds.
But the runway lights at the Mumbai Airport, which went off at about 7.38 pm, were restored only at 7.53 pm. Operations resumed five minutes later.
On Thursday, both the electrical circuits of the runway lighting failed. Even the back-up could not be activated.
Taking a serious view of the incident, Director General of Civil Aviation, Naseem Zaidi, said, “We will order an inquiry into the incident to find out the reasons for the lights failure.”
A runway has various types of lights - centre line lights, approach lights, edge lights and threshold lights. “This is a serious safety issue as the lights need to be restored within a few seconds.
12/02/10 Mumbai Mirror
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