ATC glitch sets alarm bells ringing

Kolkata: A day after the workstation tracking the presidential aircraft blipped out for three minutes, another workstation at the Kolkata air traffic control went blank for two minutes on Friday afternoon. Though the controllers did not lose track of the president aircraft on Thursday or the passenger planes that were in the sky on Friday, it has set alarm bells ringing in Delhi with Airports Authority of India executive director (air navigation services) V Somasundaram seeking a report into the workstation blackouts.
The official, while pointing out that radar services were constantly provided to the presidential aircraft without interruption on Thursday, acknowledged that a monitor had developed a snag that was rectified in three minutes.
While the radar controller workstation where the radar tracking west-bound aircraft is tracked went off for three minutes from 11.03am to 11.06am on Thursday, the approach radar workstation that helps track aircraft just after takeoff failed on Friday. ATC officials said the workstation logged out at 2.28pm and revived at 2.30pm after the controller logged in. The presence of a standby approach radar workstation saved the day.
According to sources, workstation blackouts have been happening in Kolkata for several years now, but have been ignored despite alerts from engineers of communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) department. Experts said the sudden shutdowns had in all likelihood happened when the workstation's memory was exhausted.
25/09/10 Times of India

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Categories: airports Sep 2010, Safety Sep 2010