Air-miss exposes lack of coordination among ATCs

By T.S. Shankar

CHENNAI, APRIL 18. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) probe into the recent air-miss near Salem, involving an Indian Airlines Airbus- 320 passenger flight with an MD-11 Lufthansa freighter, has thrown up several issues relating to incongruity in airspace allocation and lack of effective coordination between air traffic controllers (ATCs).

Aviation sources here told The Hindu that the mid-air drama, 15 nautical miles east of Salem, could have been avoided if the Chennai ATC was in charge. The ATC here is equipped with the modern Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR), but remained a mute spectator as the two planes were 90 nautical miles away and under the control of the Approach Controller of Bangalore HAL airport.

Though the DGCA inquiry confirmed the air-miss, the sources confirmed that in spite of having noted the reduction in level separation between the jetliners, the Chennai ATC could not act because the phones linking the Chennai and Bangalore ATCs were reportedly ``unserviceable''.

The incident also highlighted the glaring procedural difficulties in allotting cruising flight levels. In this case, the sources said that the flight level for the Lufthansa plane was given by the Thiruvananthapuram ATC while for the jet which took off to Kozhikode, it was accorded by Chennai, which did not know what the neighbouring control centre had allotted.

Aviation managers said it was high time the vital ATC- to-ATC contacts were not only modernised but also strengthened to meet future requirements. A two-day meeting of General Managers of the National Airports Division of the Airports Authority of India (NAD-AAI) is scheduled in Chennai next week to review the situation and suggest remedial measures.

Meanwhile, operating pilots said HAL airport authorities declared the airspace around south of Bangalore for test-flying purposes for only 15 or 20 days a year. For optimal utilisation of the airspace, they suggested that control could be handed over to the Chennai ATC to avoid diversion via Tiruchi, as the gruesome Chakri-Dadri mid-air collision near New Delhi airport in November 1996 remained a grim reminder.

Sources said attention should be paid to the appalling working conditions at the vintage ATC tower situated at the old Meenambakkam airport complex. Also, the new Rs. 20 crores ATC tower-cum-technical block, waiting to be commissioned probably this year, is already enmeshed in controversies. It was pointed out that the functional ``taxi way'' right under the new ATC tower would not be visible to the ATCs. ``How foolproof will be the monitoring system with the ATCs being deprived of having a clear view of what is happening in the taxi way, which links the apron and the main runway,'' sources asked.

Enquiries with NAD-AAI authorities revealed that efforts were on to instal CCTVs to provide a clear view of the movement of the jetliners on the taxi way. Sources said that on an average the Chennai ATC, during peak time, handled 30 to 35 aircraft movements an hour, for which the ATCOs had to coordinate every minute with the neighbouring ATC centres.

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