Many airports don't have approach radars

Chennai: When a plane crashes while landing, pilot error is always suspected. But, hardly anybody checks why there was scope for the pilot to err.
Mangalore airport does not have an approach radar. If it was there, air traffic control (ATC) could have warned the pilot about the altitude, speed or the glide path.
An approach radar that has a range of over 60 nautical miles is used by air traffic controllers to guide an aircraft to land. The radar not only increases air safety, but also helps the airport to handle more flights.
In the absence of approach radar, the pilot is virtually on his own. He will have to capture the Instrument Landing System (ILS) signals and use their judgment to land.
A busy airport should ideally have two radars, an approach radar and a secondary surveillance radar that has a range of 250 nautical miles. While countries across the world are aiming at complete radar coverage, India seems to be still in the dark ages as radar infrastructure has not matched the air traffic growth.
A majority of small airports in the country do not have a radar at all. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has installed only one of the radars, either the surveillance radar or the approach radar, at small airports.
24/05/10 V Ayyappan/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports May 2010, Safety May 2010