Tags:
Journalism of Courage
US senator John Kerry got a taste of the facilities at Indian airports on Saturday night, after his plane had to circle the Indira Gandhi International Airport for nearly an hour. Reason: the Instrument Landing System ILS of the airport8217;s two runways had failed.
The incident occurred just two days after the Director General of Commercial Aviation gave a certification to the third runway.
Kerry was on a visit to New Delhi for talks with senior leaders and was travelling in a US Army aircraft.
The plane first tried to land on the newly constructed third runway.
However, it didn8217;t receive any input from the localiser of the ILS of the third runway. A localiser helps the aircraft align itself with the centre line of the runway for a safe landing.
The aircraft then pulled back and tried to land on the primary runway, 28/10, where it encountered the same problem. It finally landed on the secondary and the shortest runway, 27/09.
The third runway recently got a surface movement radar from the Airport Authority of India.
Despite several attempts, DIAL officials were not available for comment.
