BIA transition a smooth affair:AAI

BIA transition a smooth affair:AAI
By S Praveen Dhaneshkar, DH News Service, Bangalore:
With the new Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) at Devanahalli all set to complete its first month birthday bash on 24 June, joining in the celebrations will be the dedicated team of 80 air traffic controllers and 50 maintenance personnel at the ATC (Air Traffic Control) tower at the new aerodrome.

Working 24/7 and 365 days at the ATC, considered the heart and soul of an airport, the team of officials from the AAI (Airports Authority of India) has found the transition of operations to BIA from HAL to be a smooth affair.

A senior official of the AAI (Airports Authority of India) told Deccan Herald barring initial teething troubles, the switch over was satisfying. “The ATC controllers includes five women officers performing a job classified as the ‘most stressful’ in the world by the ILO (International Labour Organisation). It involves the lives of tens of thousands of people. One mistake and we’ve had it. We work on four shifts 24/7, with 20 officers in each shift.

The ATC at BIA handles 320 to 350 ATM’s (Air Traffic Movements) a day that include arrivals and departures along with 50 over flying aircraft” said sources.

These flights include civilian and defence aircraft that fly over Bangalore airspace and have to be guided by the ATC at BIA enroute to other airports. The air traffic controllers here have been trained in the ‘Civil Aviation Training College’ at Allahabad that belongs to the AAI.

BIA officials added that the runway maintenance is done on Saturdays from 1 to 3 pm, when no take-offs and landings take place. Meanwhile, the ATC at HAL airport continues to function with a skeletal staff catering to military aircraft for the present.

Modern equipment
The VHF (Very High Frequency) transmitters, primary and secondary radar and receivers used by the ATC officers, installed and maintained by the AAI at BIA are manufactured by Selex Communications (Italy), a manufacturer of Avionic Navigation Systems.

It is equipped with two types of Landing Systems: Electronic aids – the Instrument Landing System (ILS) and Visual aids - lighting systems.

The BIA has the precision approach runway CAT I intended for operation of aircraft using instrument approach procedures. Other equipment installed include those provided by the Meteorological Department (Government of India) that has installed a ‘Transmissometer’ in the airfield at both – the eastern and western ends of the runway for determining the exact visibility in the direction of approach, in terms of meters, is called Runway Visual Range (RVR).

Since the runway at the Bengaluru International Airport has an east-west orientation, the Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) is available for both approaches - from the east as well as from the west. The RVR data is determined automatically using the transmissometer at both ends of the runway for both the approaches.