The Hindu : Front Page : Controllers apprehensive about air safety at Devanahalli airport

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Thursday, Mar 20, 2008
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Controllers apprehensive about air safety at Devanahalli airport

V. Sridhar

Safety standards are up to international standards, says BIAL

There is only one lift to the 20-storeyed tower
Controllers say the runway lacks central lights

Bangalore: For an airport that was to commence operations in March, now postponed to May, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) facility ought to have been up and running. Instead, on a mid-March morning, just six weeks away from the date of commissioning of the airport, chaos reigns at the ATC facility at the international airport in Devanahalli.

Whiling away time

Highly skilled controllers, instead of working at their consoles, are counting tables and chairs and discussing the blinds that should be put on the windows to prevent light from falling directly on the screens that will monitor traffic at the airport.

That the BIAL missed the March deadline is well known, but has it also cut corners?

Controllers are apprehensive about air safety at the new airport.

For example, there is just one lift to the 20-storeyed Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower. A senior controller posted at the new airport since December said that in the event of its breakdown controllers would have to climb 20 floors.

This could “disorient” a controller.

“How can he respond appropriately in an emergency,” he asked. Controllers with heart ailments and other health disorders would find it impossible to make the steep climb.

He pointed out that the ATC at the new airport at Shamshabad in Hyderabad is equipped with two lifts.

‘Standards met’

In response to a specific question posed by The Hindu about employees’ apprehension that a single lift at the ATC may compromise safety, Albert Brunner, CEO of BIAL, said, “Care has been taken to ensure that safety standards are met as per international standards.”

He said the various buildings within the airport “have been built after taking approvals from the respective authorities”.

Runway lighting

Controllers at Devanahalli also said the runway lacked central lights, which are embedded along the centre of the runway, to aid visual navigation by pilots as they land or take off.

These are considered state of the art in new airports and have been provided at the Hyderabad airport.

They also complained that the non-availability of turning pads at the ends of the runway, which aid manoeuvring of aircraft, was another example of “cost cutting”.

A senior controller told The Hindu that the approach control area of the ATC, which is the area from where controllers guide approaching airborne aircraft, is about one-fifth the size of the facility in the new airport at Hyderabad.

It is expected that controllers may have to handle at least 420 movements a day (each arrival or departure of an aircraft is considered a “movement”).

There are just two rest rooms, one measuring about 50 sq. ft and another measuring about 150 sq. ft, for the more than 30 controllers at the airport.

While the first room has barely enough room for one person, the second can accommodate three cots. Each controller is entitled to four hours of rest after a shift, pointed out one controller.

“This is a high pressure job. That has escaped the attention of those at the helm,” he said.

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