Wrong tyre used for Chennai runway friction tests

Chennai: Experts from the newly formed Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC) have reported to the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that the Airport Authority of India (AAI) had used a wrong tyre in an equipment used for runway friction tests conducted about 10 days back in Chennai.
The CASAC team that was inspecting the tests carried out on the main runway, found a groovy tyre fitted to the SAAB friction tester instead of the mandatory smooth tyre and submitted a report about it to Dr Nazim Zaidi, Director General of Civil Aviation.
When asked about it, regional executive director of AAI, Devraj, said a mistake might have happened. "We were using groove tyres for nine years. Last year a decision was taken to go in for smooth ones. It is possible that on the day the CASAC team came for inspection, a groove tyre was used by mistake. ," he said.
Since a smooth tyre was not used in the test in Chennai 10 days ago, the results were invalid. "As a groovy tyre creates more friction, readings using it would be inflated. In contrast, a smooth tyre will give you the actual friction figures," an airport source said.
02/07/10 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz

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Categories: Airports Jul 2010