Dangerous runways

Dogs loitering on runways. People cycling on landing strips. No perimeter fencing. A few desultory policemen. This is the scene that often greets one at numerous airstrips across the country.
Under normal circumstances this wouldn't raise eyebrows. But with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) on May 7 warning airlines of human bombs, this slackness could prove costly. Remote airstrips used by corporates and politicians could become sitting ducks for attacks, say pilots who fly there. "What's to stop bombs, guns and counterfeit money from being planted in a plane? The hijacking of IC-814 in 1999 showed how easy it was to do this," says a pilot. The use of moldable plastic explosives against the wife of an Israeli diplomat in Delhi showed how easy they were to handle.
Small airports are a disaster waiting to happen. Vikas Dhal, operations manager of EIH Ltd, a company having a King Air and a Hawker 850 XP, said that small airfields often have no fencing, X-ray machines or navigational and technical support.
05/06/12 Shobha John/Times of India

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Categories: airports Jun 2012, Safety Jun 2012