Dense fog wreaks havoc at IGI, affects over 400 flights

New Delhi: An unprecedented dense fog today left flight operations in disarry at IGI airport, affecting 400 flights and giving a harrowing time to flyers.
The fog enveloped the airport around 4.00 AM and general visibility reached near zero while the runway visibility dipped to less than 50 metres leading to suspension of operations for seven hours.
"The situation prevailed till 11.00 AM, during which almost all flight operations were affected as the runway visual range Runway 29 (new) and 28 (main) were lower than the prescribed minima for flying in CAT III B conditions (below 50 metres)," an airport official said.
According to rules, the flights should take off when the runway visibility is more than 125 metres and 150 metres for different types of aircraft.
Though the two runways of Delhi airport are CAT III B compliant, under this an aircraft can land when the runway visibility is not less than 50 metres, but the runway visibility went below 50 metres.
30/12/11 PTI/Economic Times

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Categories: airports Dec 2011