Theoretically,a piece of equipment could have helped prevent the scare that rocked Mumbai airport on Sunday,when two flights prepared simultaneously for takeoff from intersecting runways. The Surface Movement Radar (SMR) should already have been in service,its installation having been scheduled by April. Air traffic controllers there arent enough of them in any case would have used the SMR detect aircraft and vehicles on the surface instead of depending on the naked eye. The SMR works as a typical video blip,overlaid onto a plan view of the airport showing features such as the runways and taxiways,grass areas and buildings. For an airport short of qualified radar controllers,it would have been an ideal supplement. But the delay in installation means that the airport will go without it for yet another monsoon,the season when the countrys busiest airport needs it the most. The airport deals with 650 to 680 departing and arriving traffic each day. Traffic volume has gone up 60 per cent in a decade. Such a huge increase in runway activity has seen the airports private developer build new taxiways. Airport officials say there is a desperate need to enhance infrastructure and manpower. According to figures available with Newsline,it is a general trend across Indian airports to be short of radar controllers,who form the core of overall air traffic movements at airports. There has been an exponential growth in air traffic but ground infrastructure remains the same. We started with trials of cross-runway operations,bifurcation of approach control and area control sectors in 2006,but there is a limit, said an airport official. With Mondays possible collision coming on the heels of Februarys incident involving the Presidents chopper,airport officials say there is a need to find out where things have gone wrong. There may be a common thread in Mondays and the Presidents chopper incidents. What is required is for the ATC to go back to the drawing board and to asses its level of preparedness, said an airport official. A spokesperson for the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) conceded,It is agreed that a lot of minor and major incidents have occurred of late at the airport, but added,It is not appropriate to club everything in one basket and point to a common constraint. Its like putting more and more people inside a Maruti 800 and expecting it to perform. There has to be a limit to that, said an official.
