Kolkata: A
communication breakdown between Kolkata's air traffic control and 85 planes jeopardized
the lives of nearly 25,000 unsuspecting fliers for ten minutes on Thursday.
A little after 7:30 AM,
the screens at the Air Traffic Control (ATC) that display the positions of
aircraft reportedly went blank. This reportedly shut the feed from aircraft
tracking equipment. The controllers then turned to the Very High Frequency
(VHF) link to communicate with the aircraft but realized that was not working
either.
The incident forced the
Kolkata ATC to approach the Nagpur and Varanasi ATCs to track the movement of the
aircrafts and avoid any untoward development.
The Directorate General
of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India said they would probe the
incident.
The
only radars that were functional were the ones at the Kolkata airport, Badu in
North 24-Parganas and Berhampur in Odisha.
Though two frequencies were later restored, the range remained poor with
controllers being able to speak to pilots at a distance of up to 130 nautical
miles or till somewhere between Jamshedpur and Kolkata.
At 9.15 AM, the BSNL maintained link was restored. Controllers have been calling for some private telecom operator's services for their operations. But red-tapeism has led to dependence on BSNL. ATC said that there was no breach of separation between aircraft or loss of contact as alternative modes of communication were used
At 9.15 AM, the BSNL maintained link was restored. Controllers have been calling for some private telecom operator's services for their operations. But red-tapeism has led to dependence on BSNL. ATC said that there was no breach of separation between aircraft or loss of contact as alternative modes of communication were used
The aviation regulator
will initiate a probe into the incident once the authorities submit the report.
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