IAF plays ‘spoilsport’ as ILS in place for past 4 decades
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had last year expressed displeasure over the frequent flight disruptions at the Srinagar Airport due to poor visibility but this year, the government-headed by her seems indifferent to the plight of passengers.
“Despite having been declared an International Airport almost a decade back, the technical facilities at Srinagar aerodrome continue to be outdated impeding the air traffic to and from Kashmir especially during the winters,” Mehbooba said last year on November 25 when air traffic to and fro Kashmir was badly hit like this year due to poor visibility.
However, this year, so far over 200 flights, both incoming and outgoing, have been cancelled in the past six days due to the foggy weather.
Talking to Kashmir Post, Director, Airports Authority of India (AII), Srinagar Airport, Sharad Kumar said on November 17, 15 of the 18 inbound flights could not take off while 15 of the 18 outbound flights could not land.
Usually, 18 flights land and 18 take off from Srinagar airport every day.
Kumar said during the past five days none of these flights could operate due to low visibility.
This has caused inconvenience and hardships to thousands of passengers travelling to and fro Srinagar while the government has continued to look the other way.
In absence of air traffic, most of the banks have stopped giving cash to customers citing excuse of absence of currency notes coming from New Delhi, thus complicating matters for the people already battling demonetisation woes.
Kumar said the Srinagar airport has the Instrument Landing System (ILS) in place but with this equipment, flights could land only within of 1300 meters or 1.3 km of the aerodome operating normal minima visibility at the runway.
However, during the past six days, the visibility at the runway has been lesser than 1300 meters leading to cancellation of all flights.
Kumar said the authorities were working to ensure the flights operate even below the 1300 meter aerodome operating normal minima visibility at the runway and had already spoken to the Indian Air Force (IAF) for necessary upgradation.
AAI looks only after the terminal building of the airport while the rest of Srinagar Airport is under the control of IAF.
Former Air Vice Marshal of IAF, Kapil Kak told Kashmir Post that the Srinagar airport has had the ILS in place for the past four decades.
“I myself flew flights from 1972 and ILS has been in place all these 44 years,” he said.
However, Kak said the problem with operating flights was that even with the help of ILS, flights operate even below 1300 meter aerodome operating normal minima visibility at the runway.
He said the Precision Approach Radar (PAR) allows pilots to operate in extreme low visibility as it allows planes to control with the help of the Ground Controlled Approach Radar System.
“Both ILS and PAR are used for landing but for takeoff ILS is of no use as the pilot has to see toward the end of the runway before taking off and if visibility is below the laid down norms, it is not possible to operate flights,” the former Air Vice Marshall said.
He said the AIF’s job was only to provide aerodome operating normal minima visibility to the pilots and not instruct them to operate or not to operate.
“AIF has its own benchmarks for its pilots to carry out their tasks safely and awards ratings to pilots under the Instrument Ratings of White, Green or Master Green, which are commensurate with flying accuracy achieved during the Instrument Rating Test, and experience,” Kak said. “However, civil pilots have no such Instrument Ratings.”
As Kashmir continues to witness foggy weather and the flights continue to remain disrupted, Mehbooba’s last year’s assertion that in view of the heavy air traffic on the Srinagar Airport, the technical facilities including ILS need to be upgraded immediately at the aerodrome to avoid any inconvenience to the passengers comes under question.
Mehbooba, the incumbent CM, who was then the Member of Parliament, had said she would take up the matter with the Union Minister for Civil Aviation and Defence so that advanced technical facilities including ILS were put in place at the Srinagar airport at the earliest so that the flights could land and take-off even during zero visibility.
A year since she made this assertion, not a thing has changed.
