Yesterday, i.e. on January14, 2010, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1lace><st1laceName>Delhi</st1laceName> <st1laceName>Internation</st1laceName> <st1laceType>Airport</st1laceType></st1lace> experienced a halt in operations. A software system, that helps planes take off and land, crashed and operations were halted for an hour and a half, before air traffic controllers switched to manual handling of flights. My bro-in- law said about 30 to 35 flights, mainly domestic, were affected after the ATC (air traffic control) system blinked around <st1:time Hour="18" Minute="0">6 pm</st1:time>. A probe would be ordered into the crash as it could have resulted in a major mishap. An entire sector had turned “blind”. Controllers groped to find out the location of flights already airborne.
It was a close call. The Delhi ATC handles flight of the entire northern region right upto Varanasi. But yes the men at the ATC proved upto the task. Hats off to them.:bowdown
I was having a chat with my Delhi friends last evening. They told a heavy fog descended on Delhi last morning. Visibility dropped to less than fifty meters and rail and air traffic were badly affected. One of my friends told visibility was very poor till 9 am. The heavy fog began to lift a bit, only after 11 am. The fog resulted in a chaos at the Indira Gandhi National Airport (IGIA) in the morning. Low-visibility tools had to be implemented. Later, I heard on a news channel that five flights were cancelled. Runway visibility, which should be at least 150 meters for a plane to take off or land, was not sufficient.
That day, the railway schedule was even worst hit. Around 50 trains were cancelled and the fog caused major delays. At least five trains were rescheduled. Morning delays had an effect on train schedules throughout the day. On Sunday morning, according to my uncle, who is a northern railways official, nearly 40 routes got cancelled and thirteen arrivals got delayed by more than three hours. The chilly cold subsided Sunday morning as the minimum temperature was recorded at 7.7 degree Celsius. It was a notch above the average for this time of the season. You can share your experiences of delays caused by fog this winter.
