Delhi: Paris' ultra busy Charles de Gaulle Airport recently had a scare when a blank blip on its radar showed an unidentified aircraft approaching it. Alarmed air traffic controllers immediately contacted the aircraft and were then told that it was a schedule Air India Dreamliner flight from Delhi that had suffered a transponder snag due to which the plane was not able to emit its details!
The latest problem on Boeing's snag-prone Dreamliner happened on Tuesday when AI 143 was on its way to Paris CDG and its transponder reportedly stopped working. This vital equipment plays several crucial roles: it gives a collision warning to the pilot if another aircraft gets too close for comfort; pilots can use it to send distress signal discreetly to ATC and finally, it gives all details of the aircraft on the blips that appear on ATC radars. The emergency situations that transponders are used to warn ground controllers about are communication failure, hijack and any other emergency.
20/12/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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The latest problem on Boeing's snag-prone Dreamliner happened on Tuesday when AI 143 was on its way to Paris CDG and its transponder reportedly stopped working. This vital equipment plays several crucial roles: it gives a collision warning to the pilot if another aircraft gets too close for comfort; pilots can use it to send distress signal discreetly to ATC and finally, it gives all details of the aircraft on the blips that appear on ATC radars. The emergency situations that transponders are used to warn ground controllers about are communication failure, hijack and any other emergency.
20/12/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
