Wrong marking on city runway confuses pilots

Chennai: When airports the world over are upgrading safety measures because of the ever-increasing traffic, the Chennai airport has a basic ground rule wrong, one which could confuse pilots trying to land in inclement weather.
Pilots have found that the main runway of the airport has wrong marking that denotes a point as a taxi-holding point. “Misjudging the runway as a taxiway can be dangerous as it can cause last minute confusion in the cockpit when an aircraft comes in to land, especially when visibility is low. The Instrument Landing System (ILS) signals and the Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) would tell the pilot that the aircraft is approaching a runway, but in reality he will be seeing a taxiway marking,” said an Indian pilot.
The new markings that were made early this month — two horizontal lines with several shorter lines next to them — is normally drawn at the mouth of taxiways to notify pilots that they should stop the aircraft there to get further clearance before proceeding onto the runway for take-off.
“The marking should not be there. It shows the callousness of the airport authorities,” said Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a former pilot and air safety expert.
01/05/10 Times of India

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Categories: Airports May 2010, Safety May 2010