Kolkata second runway ready for night ops, traffic load to ease

Kolkata: The secondary runway at Kolkata airport that was operational only during the daytime is finally equipped to handle flights round the clock, marking the completion of a long-pending project to install an instrument landing system (ILS) on the runway. Without ILS, the runway cannot be used at night or in poor weather when visibility drops below 1,300 metre.
However, it will take three more months for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to approve ILS operations on the secondary runway. "The flight path calibration has been done. Pilots have to now check out the Instrument Aided Landing (IAL) procedure. Thereafter, DGCA will carry out a final inspection. The entire process should be over by mid-September, allowing operations at night before the Pujas," said Airports Authority of India (AAI) executive director Gautam Mukherjee.
Once the secondary runway is ILS-enabled, flights can operate at night as well as till visibility drops below 800 metre. Comprising a localizer that provides information on horizontal deviation from the runway and glide-path that gives data on vertical deviation of the aircraft from the glide angle for landing, it electronically guides planes to enable a perfect touchdown. This reduces human error as the pilot does not have to depend on visual landing alone.
The project, conceived over five years ago and scheduled to be completed by 2008, encountered a spate of delays following extension of the runway from 2,800 to 3,200 metre. On a couple of occasions, landings and takeoffs had to be suspended at night because the primary runway was under maintenance and the secondary runway was not equipped to handle night operations.
20/06/11 Subhro Niyogi/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jun 2011