At 12.21 pm on Friday the Delhi airport radar went blank. At that moment, 24 birds were either preparing for takeoff or circling above in landing sequence. The blackout lasted 30 minutes leading to a massive scare.
Director-General of civil aviation Arun Mishra told Mail Today, "I have asked the Airports Authority of India to submit a report stating the cause for this power disruption triggering the radar failure... Power supply to the server controlling the radars in the air traffic control (ATC) office was disrupted. It lasted for about 30 minutes."
Mishra quickly added, "Fortunately not many flights were affected mid-air as it happened at 12.21 pm." That is the arrival time for several international flights to the Capital.
With the radar system showing no sign of restoration, the ATC had to resort to manual operations. "The ATC operators were clearing the flights without even seeing the aircraft," said an insider.
09/02/13 Maneesh Pandey and Hakeem Ifran/India Today
