Kathmandu: Flights were obstructed for over two hours at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Saturday morning due to a technical problem in VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Radio Range), a navigation machine.
General Manager of TIA Ratish Chandra Lal Suman attributed the problem to accumulation of moisture in the VOR antenna, a radio navigation system that gives information about direction and distance. "The signal became weak and intermittent due to the moisture accumulation with some planes receiving the signal and others having problem," GM Suman said.
Three international flights -- Spice Jet, Jet Airways and Air China -- were diverted due to the problem that started at 9:15 in the morning. The planes landed at the airport later after the problem was fixed around two hours later. The Jet Airways flight from Mumbai returned to Mumbai and landed at 1:10 in the afternoon, the Spice Jet flight from Delhi went back to Delhi and landed at 1:30 in the afternoon, and the China Air from Lhasa went back to Lhasa and landed later at 1:40 in the afternoon. Flights of Indian Airlines, Nepal Airlines and Qatar Airways, however, had landed even during the snag.
"The three flights landed despite the snag and the three flights that were diverted could well have been postponed due to inclement weather conditions," Suman argued downplaying the problem.
Suman said the flights on IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) -- that depend on the instruments on the flight deck -- were affected at the time but those that could operate on VFR (Visual Flight Rules) -- relying on outside visual reference --were operational.
26/06/11 Prem Dhakal/Republica
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