Opinion - News Analysis   

Is India ready for the aviation boom?

A. Ranganathan

Complete lack of commitment to safety is evident in most international airfields in India. Professionalism and accountability are urgently required.

— Photo: A Ranganathan

SERIOUS THREAT: Flocks of large birds flying near the runways at Delhi Airport are a potential danger to every aircraft landing and taking off.

INDIAN AVIATION is in a state of slumber. The monsoon crisis that Mumbai, the country's financial capital, went through exposed this very clearly. Mumbai airport shut down for over three days and was opened for flights even when it was unsafe. To open the airport when it was not ready for scheduled passenger flights by airlines using high performance jet aircraft was nothing short of a mockery of safety norms.

The notification from the Airports Authority of India stated that ASR (Air Route Surveillance Radar) was available and aircraft were given authorisation to operate flights under what is called "Special VFR." This visual flight rule permits aircraft to make an approach when the visibility is 1.5 km. None of the international airlines accepted this as it was completely unsafe. When you are brought in for a landing using the ASR, the lowest altitude the aircraft can descend to has to be at least 400 feet above the highest obstacle on the approach path. This would mean that an aircraft would not have been allowed to descend safely to any altitude less than 600-700 feet. For this, you need a minimum visibility of more than 3 km. The only way an aircraft can make the approach is by coming down lower than the permitted altitude. No wonder, in the aviation world, the Indian reputation for flight safety is not very complimentary.

This charade could have been avoided if Indian aviation had kept up with the times. Five years ago, a five-day seminar was conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation in New Delhi. The subject was the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for making safe approaches for landing. Several countries use this safe and very accurate navigation aid. Chinese airlines use GPS approaches and landings into Lhasa airfield in Tibet. The use of GPS equipment would have positioned the aircraft within the certified accuracy, which is less than 20 meters.

Representatives of the National Airports Authority, who were present at the seminar, were asked to plan on GPS overlay procedures initially (where the GPS approaches were overlaid on the present instrument approach procedures). After a period of testing, the GPS approaches would have been the standard. But, as it happens in all walks of aviation in India, procrastination is the watchword.

Their paranoia about Americans was what killed the project. In spite of the American commitment to ICAO that the 24 satellites under their control would not be out of bounds for civil aviation, the suspicion lingered and Indian aviation suffers. When a majority of aircraft flying in Indian airspace have very accurate GPS equipment and extremely advanced flight management computer systems, we are made to fly outdated procedures using outdated ground equipment.

Mumbai would not have been shut off from the rest of India and the world, if only we had GPS approaches. Aircraft could have landed on runway 27 using a GPS approach, instead of risking passenger lives using Runway 14 in heavy rain.

GPS is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense. GPS was originally intended for military applications, but in the 1980s, the government made the system available for civilian use. GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day. There are no subscription fees or set-up charges to use GPS.

A GPS receiver must be locked on to the signal of at least three satellites to calculate a 2D position (latitude and longitude) and track movement. With four or more satellites in view, the receiver can determine the user's 3D position (latitude, longitude and altitude). Once the user's position has been determined, the GPS unit can calculate other information, such as speed, bearing, track, trip distance, distance to destination, sunrise and sunset time and more.

How accurate is GPS? Today's GPS receivers are extremely accurate, thanks to their parallel multi-channel design. GPS receivers with WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) capability can improve accuracy to within less than three meters on average.

Mumbai airport is not in a location where expansion is possible. The present Instrument Landing System on runway 27 cannot be used for CAT II. The glide path angle is beyond the limit for CAT II ILS approaches. This limitation prohibits the use of auto land facility. Should Mumbai suffer because of this? The obstacles on the approach path prevent lowering of the glide path angle. The control tower near runway 14 has been declared unsafe for infringing on the safety area for that runway. IATA wants the tower to be demolished. Is anyone answerable for this lapse? Yet, our authorities permitted operation of this runway during heavy rain, without even the basic navigation landing aid, and that too using rules applicable only for small aircrafts.

Indian aviation is expanding at a furious pace. Our infrastructure is in a pathetic state. The use of outdated technology for navigation is resulting in colossal loss to all airlines. We permit what are called non-precision approaches using the VORs (Very High Frequency Omni directional range finders). The VORs have an acceptable error of 4 degrees, which means you can be 4 miles off course at 60 miles. Yet, we cannot trust the GPS, which has accuracy factor of less than 20 meters! The inordinate delays for take-offs and landings in Mumbai costs the airlines and the nation crores of rupees in wasted fuel.

Things are only going to worsen. The shortage of air traffic controllers is not going to make the sky safer. Near miss in the air is going to be common place. India is yet to introduce RNAV (Area Navigation) approaches where the extensive use of the GPS and flight management computers makes the feed into the approach free from manual control of the ground controllers. Dubai airport increased traffic capacity tenfold, using this.

Yet we follow the outdated single radar control facility with extended separation criteria. Hence the delays and total wastage of fuel. We can still undo the damage. We have the expertise, we have the aircraft with modern equipment. But we suffer from outdated ground equipment and rules.

The complete lack of commitment to safety is evident in most international airfields in India. Every other day, there is a bird strike on aircraft in Delhi or Ahmedabad. While Delhi skies are crowded with hundreds of birds flying around in the airport area, the presence of several bird nests on the navigation towers and anemometer next to the runway at Ahmedabad airport is unpardonable. Professionalism and accountability are urgently required.

(The writer, an airline pilot with 19,000 hours experience, specialises in accident prevention studies.)

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