Chennai: Several problems surround the extended portion of the secondary runway at the Chennai airport due to which it cannot be put to use immediately, said Capt. A. Ranganathan, Aviation Safety Consultant, here on Monday.
Listing various problems in the newly constructed portion, Capt. Ranganathan said the Airports Authority of India (AAI) could not install instrument landing system (ILS) as they were not be able to locate a place for installing the localiser antenna, which the AAI wanted to set up on the northern portion of the runway, near the Trident Hotel point. If they install the antenna there, its signals would be disrupted, leading to problems. Therefore, landing of aircraft from Kolappakkam side could only be a non-precision one.
A non-precision runway did not require an ILS. However, the AAI claimed that they need 15.67 acres of land to install ILS. But in reality it did not require the land and there was no need for clearing the houses from Maxworth Nagar, which were said to be obstructions, he said. In January this year, the AAI had prepared an obstacle chart, which also clearly showed the trees as the obstacles and not the houses in Kolappakkam.
23/04/13 The Hindu
