Sunday, November 9, 2008

Smog Delays 70 Arrivals in New Delhi


Nearly 70 inbound flights, including three international ones, were delayed on Saturday morning due as smog reduced visibility at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to a mere 750m, the plight of passengers was further aggravated by an hour-long shutdown of one of the two ILS friendly runways.

One of the two runways equipped to handle flights during low visibility was closed for an hour.

“The new runway at the airport is equipped with an Instrument Landing System, which enables a pilot to land a plane even when he cannot see the runway,” said a spokesperson of Airport Authority of India, which handles air traffic at IGI Airport. However, the ILS is dependent on the data provided by Runway Visual Range (RVR) machine, which gives exact status of visibility.

“The RVR machine was not working and therefore the ILS could not be used. We had to shut down the new runway for an hour,” the spokesperson said.

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