The Hindu : National : Instrument landing system upgraded at Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 27, 2005

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National

Instrument landing system upgraded at Delhi

Special Correspondent

It facilitates takeoffs and landings in very low visibility conditions

NEW DELHI: The Airport Authority of India (AAI) said on Monday that the landing system at the Indira Gandhi International airport has been upgraded from CAT-III A to CAT III B Instrument Landing System (ILS), enabling takeoffs and landings in very low visibility conditions.

It said the ILS for the main runway at the airport was calibrated to conform to international ICAC specifications. The runway markings and the airfield lighting systems have been upgraded to meet the requirements of CAT-III B operations.

The new system would enable operations in a visibility range of 50 to 200 metres as against the present CAT-III A which caters to the range of 200 to 400 metres. However, barring the public sector Indian Airlines which has nearly a dozen pilots trained to operate in the CAT-III B system, private domestic carriers do not have many pilots who can operate in such low visibility. But pilots of international carriers such as Air France KLM have reportedly expressed satisfaction with the electronically guided ILS, saying it was stable and the ATC support was "very professional."

For detecting the aircraft and vehicles on aircraft movement areas and to ensure adequate separation between aircraft and vehicles, a new facility, Surface Movement Radar (SMR), has been installed. The system provides a controller display at the control tower wherein the positions of vehicles in the manoeuvring area aredisplayed with the help of a transponder mounted on vehicles. The vehicle locator or the transponder provides a tag attached to the target blip indicating not only the position of the vehicle but other data as well. Similar tags can also be attached to the aircraft. The location of the aircraft and the vehicles are superimposed on the airfield grid map generated electronically in the radar.

In addition to getting guidance through documented procedures for operations and maintenance, the controllers and maintenance personnel have familiarised themselves with the system during the 10-day trial period when it was undergoing assessment for its operational adequacy.

The whole system has been checked in actual operating environment with the help of an aircraft and vehicles for its adequacy during a trial conducted on December 20 where AAI representatives and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) were present.

A mock drill was also conducted two days later where the adequacy of low visibility procedures promulgated, the coordination procedures and the operational requirements were all confirmed.

The system was handed over for operational use with effect from Saturday.

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