Click to play videoMumbai: Mumbai International Airport has become a nightmare for pilots. There have been several close shaves recently despite this airport authorities have been slow to respond to emergencies. For several weeks the airport's main runway light has not been working. The light is much needed and could lead to a disaster.
"It's worst if it's raining or when there are cross-winds where we heavily depend on naked visibility. There are times where we cannot completely depend on equipment and CAT systems for landing and aircraft movement," says a pilot.
ATC sources say they have sent reminders to the airport operator MIAL but they have not shown urgency in repairing the lights. Mumbai International Airport Limited officials refused to speak to CNN-IBN. Instead they issued a written statement saying, "We are a CAT 1 compliant airport and therefore it is not mandatory to have centre-line lights. Besides this is only a temporary phase due to re-surfacing and correction of the alignment of the lights that were not correct earlier."
But experts think otherwise and say the lights are essential.
"For a pilot flying here it's these white lights viz a viz the blue lights bordering the runway that help correctly align the aircraft. For an internationally certified airport these are basic perquisites," says aviation expert Vipul Saxena.
Mumbai airport has two runways. It was notified earlier that the lights on the main one will not function from October 2009 to March 2010. But the deadline was pushed to October 2010. Though centre lights were later made functional for the second runway, it solves only half the problem.
Sources indicate that the bigger hurdle for MIAL is the non-availability of a clear mapping of the intricate electrical circuitry running over an operational area of over 1450 acres. In a process of revamp these may be things that gradually get rectified but the question is: can one of South Asia's busiest hubs afford such a delay.
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