New Delhi: Aircraft approaching to land in Delhi on Monday afternoon were in for a shock. The radars at IGI Airport had failed yet again - the second breakdown since last Friday - and the aircraft were asked to follow a holding pattern, which had them hovering for a while. A few tense minutes later, air traffic controllers switched over to the manual procedural pattern in which they communicated with the pilots through very high frequency (VHF) radio and helped them land.
Air traffic control (ATC) sources say there was a problem with the route radar and the terminal approach radar from 3.35pm to 4.15pm, after which the terminal approach radar started working. It, however, worked intermittently.
While maximum delays were during the time when both radars were down, the problem persisted as the route radar was down till about 7.50pm. A notice to airmen was issued for this radar at 5pm, informing pilots that it was unserviceable.
11/02/13 Neha Lalchandani & Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
