Rain, carcass on runway in airport mess

Kolkata: A deluge and a bizarre accident possibly caused by a plane hitting a jackal plunged Kolkata airport into chaos on Wednesday afternoon, leading to suspension of operations for about two hours and throwing flight schedules haywire till late evening.
Six flights — of IndiGo Airlines, Jet Airways and SpiceJet — were lined up for landing around noon when a downpour significantly brought down visibility. The situation turned all the more tricky because the primary runway, which has the instrument landing system (ILS) to guide pilots in poor visibility, was not in operation. Airport authorities had issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) earlier in the day, declaring the primary runway would be shut from 10am to 4pm for repairs and operations would be shifted to the secondary runway. But with the ILS in the secondary runway yet to be operational, pilots had to land visually without any aid.
Around 2.45pm, when operations were just limping back to normal, takeoffs and landings were suspended once again after the pilot of a departing Air India flight to Silchar reported an animal carcass at the northern end of the runway. Before it, a Jet Airways flight had taken off for Guwahati but hadn't reported any incident.
12/07/12 Times of India

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Categories: airports Jul 2012, Safety Jul 2012