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Karnataka
Poor visibility, fog delay 10 flights
On an average six flights are delayed when visibility is poor
Airport has only CAT-1 landing system
CHICKBALLAPUR: Ten flights were delayed as thick fog engulfed Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) at Devanahalli and surrounding areas on Wednesday morning.
The flights, domestic as well as international, could not take off on time because of poor visibility between 6.30 a.m. and 8.40 a.m. The flights were delayed by at least 30 minutes, sources in Bengaluru International Airport Ltd. (BIAL) told The Hindu.
Fog-related flight delays has become common at the BIA since November. According to sources, on an average six flights are delayed in the morning on days when visibility is poor. Unlike other major airports in the country BIA has a CAT-I Instrument Landing System (ILS) that is “not efficient” in bad weather when the Runway Visibility Range (RVR) drops. Some major airports in the country have upgraded to CAT-II and even CAT-III ILS to overcome the visibility problem. Sources said the ILS at BIA had been designed, installed, tested and commissioned by the Airports Authority of India, which was the Air Navigation Service Provider for all the airports in the country.
The BIA had the precision approach runway CAT-I intended for visibility of 550 metres. The Meteorological Department has installed a “Transmissometer” in the airfield at the eastern and estern ends of the runway for determining the visibility in the direction of approach in terms RVR. As the runway at the airport has an east-west orientation, the ILS is available for both approaches.
The RVR data is determined automatically using the Transmissometer at both ends of the runway for both the approaches.
The runway was equipped with visual aids in addition to electronic aids. The selection of visual aids, sources said, depended primarily on the visibility conditions under which it conducts operations and on the type of aircraft operated at the airport.
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