Changes in ATC tower soon

MUMBAI, April 2: The controversial air traffic control tower at Mumbai airport is likely to see some structural changes to ensure flight safety following suggestions by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

R C Costa Pereira, ICAO general secretary, said a team was carrying out a detailed technical study and a report would be submitted soon. “Some alterations may be necessary,” he said. The ATC tower has been constructed in blatant violation of the ICAO regulations and has also flouted its mandatory safety standards. Following severe objections from aviation experts and pilots dubbing it as a safety hazard, the issue had been referred to the ICAO by the Director General of Civil Aviation.

Subsequently, the Airports Authority of India had to close down the secondary runway at Mumbai, as it had posed potential risk to flight operations on it.

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Pereira expressed happiness that the DGCA had set a deadline of December 31, 1998, for installation of Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) on allaircrafts flying in India or overflying the country even as ICAO has plans to announce a deadline for December 31, 2002 for the international airlines.

Pereira, on a four-day visit to India, will visit Indian Airlines central training establishment at Hyderabad tomorrow before flying to Delhi, where he is scheduled to meet the new Civil Aviation Minister Anant Kumar and address the Aeronautical Society of India.