The Hindu : New Delhi News : Fog delays flights and trains

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 15, 2007
ePaper

New Delhi

New Delhi

Fog delays flights and trains

Staff Reporter

Advanced CAT III-B instrument landing system for flights implemented

– Photo: V. V. Krishnan

Foggy day: A thick layer of fog shrouded the Capital early on Friday morning bringing down the normal visibility to a considerable low, affecting the flight schedule and disrupting the road and train traffic.

NEW DELHI: A heavy blanket of fog over the Capital threw flight and train schedules into complete disarray on Friday compelling the airport authorities to implement Low Visibility procedures early in the morning and employ the advanced CAT III-B instrument landing system for landing of flights.

The procedures were initialised at 2-40 a.m. at Indira Gandhi International Airport after visibility was reduced to 250 metres. The fog thinned out as the day progressed with LVP procedures being terminated once visibility rose to 1,000 metres at 11-05 a.m. Of the 72 flights operated under LVP, 41 were domestic and 31 were international. Inclement conditions also resulted in seven international flights being diverted to Mumbai, while eight flights landed using the advanced CAT III-B landing system. Though no flights were cancelled, inordinate delays had passengers fuming with vexation.

“My SpiceJet flight to Kochi was delayed by over two hours. Even though the airline authorities are supposed to call me about any unforeseen delay, I got a message from them only a few minutes before the flight was scheduled to take off,” said a not-too-pleased V. J. Joshua.

Another Air Deccan flight to Chennai that was scheduled to depart at 9-15 a.m. took off only by 2-30 p.m. “We were made to sit in the aircraft for over two hours. It is mighty irksome to be strapped and ready to take-off and then be made to wait for such a long time. If the situation is so grave this early in the season, one can only imagine the state of affairs once the fog gets thicker,” said a livid passenger, S. Narayanan.

Railroad passengers had a similar tale to recount with over nine trains steaming into the Capital way past their scheduled arrivals. This was the fourth successive day that trains on the Delhi-Ambala-Kalka section of Northern Railway were delayed due to foggy conditions. The Rajdhani Express from Guwahati was delayed by over five hours while both the Katihar Express and the Mahananda Express (from Alipurdwar) chugged into Delhi nine hours off-schedule. The Jammu-Tawi Express and the Kaifiyat Express were both over three hours late in arriving. In all, 14 trains coming into the Capital were delayed causing disgruntled passengers to fret about on the platforms praying for clearer skies.

However, a temporary respite may be in store for travellers with the Meteorological Department forecasting “mainly clear skies” for Saturday. The weatherman has also forecast a minimum temperature of 7 degrees Celsius, down two degrees from the 9 degrees Celsius recorded on Friday.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi