Pune: Burdened with around 200 take-offs and landings of commercial flights till recently besides the sorties of Indian Air Force fighter jets, the re-carpeting of the city airport’s runway has become a necessity.
During a conversation after an IAF fighter jet’s tyre burst on the runway on March 18 and delayed the movement of several commercial flights, Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (retired) had told TOI that the airport’s runway re-carpeting was of utmost importance.
The runway was last re-carpeted six years ago. There were 30 flight movements back then.
Aviation expert and analyst Dhairyashil Vandekar told TOI, “The number of scheduled flights has grown almost 200% since 2013. So, one can imagine the kind of pressure the runway withstands. A runway becomes too smooth after a point of time. As a result, the frictional force reduces. This force is required for smooth landing and take-off of aircraft.”
He said, “The airport’s runway is checked almost daily, but re-carpeting aims at its complete maintenance. The disappointing part is that the airport has just one runway and its re-carpeting would lead to disruptions in flight movement.”
To obviate the possibility of any incident, it is mandatory to keep the runway in top condition. More so at Lohegaon, because it is a vital airbase. The appointment of a contractor for re-carpeting the city airport’s runway is under consideration, almost three months after the authorities claimed that the job would be done this year.
29/03/19 Joy Sengupta/Times of India
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During a conversation after an IAF fighter jet’s tyre burst on the runway on March 18 and delayed the movement of several commercial flights, Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (retired) had told TOI that the airport’s runway re-carpeting was of utmost importance.
The runway was last re-carpeted six years ago. There were 30 flight movements back then.
Aviation expert and analyst Dhairyashil Vandekar told TOI, “The number of scheduled flights has grown almost 200% since 2013. So, one can imagine the kind of pressure the runway withstands. A runway becomes too smooth after a point of time. As a result, the frictional force reduces. This force is required for smooth landing and take-off of aircraft.”
He said, “The airport’s runway is checked almost daily, but re-carpeting aims at its complete maintenance. The disappointing part is that the airport has just one runway and its re-carpeting would lead to disruptions in flight movement.”
To obviate the possibility of any incident, it is mandatory to keep the runway in top condition. More so at Lohegaon, because it is a vital airbase. The appointment of a contractor for re-carpeting the city airport’s runway is under consideration, almost three months after the authorities claimed that the job would be done this year.
29/03/19 Joy Sengupta/Times of India
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