Runway lights go dark, pilots get a shocktimes news network

Kolkata: Pilots of two SpiceJet flights that were approaching Kolkata airport to land had a scare on Monday night when the runway lights shut down at 9.30 pm and the tarmac remained dark for eight minutes as the diesel generator back-up failed to start.
The aircraft (from Jaipur and Mumbai) were asked to hover over the city till the snag could be fixed. Two planes lined up for take-off a SpiceJet flight to Ahmedabad and an IndiGo flight to Delhi were held on the tarmac during the period.
The power problem affected other sections of the airport for nearly two hours with Singapore Airlines staff having to use their personal laptops to check in passengers. Airport officials are still puzzled over what happened as the snag disappeared just as mysteriously as it cropped up.
"..The engineering wing is investigating why the snag happened," airport director R Srinivasan said.
According to sources, the captain of the SpiceJet flight from Jaipur saw the runway disappear around 9.30pm and reported the matter to the air traffic control tower at Kolkata airport, which immediately alerted department heads.
The back-up supplied by a diesel generator that starts automatically in case of a power failure, refused to start on Monday night. It remained that way for eight minutes before power to the runway lights were restored. The rest of the airport remained dark and restoration happened in phases.
25/08/10 Times of India

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Categories: airports aug 2010, Safety Aug 2010, SpiceJet Aug 2010