New Instrument Landing System commissioned
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Dec 31: The much required upgraded Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Jammu Airport was commissioned today by Airport Authority of India (AAI) facilitating aircraft operations during fog and poor visibility conditions and thus providing a great relief to the passengers.
Soon after finalization of ILS procedure by the Indian Air Force, the new system for safe landing and taking off the flights was commissioned as the ground and air calibration was already completed last month by the Flight Inspection Unit (FIU) of AAI.
The new ILS is of Category I, which is upgraded version of the previous one and will be catering visibility of 800 meters. “With compliance of certain ground criteria, this can operate as Category II ILS having visibility of 550 meters”, Director Airport, Dr P R Beuria told the Excelsior.
Pertinent to be mentioned that the earlier ILS was withdrawn during the month of March 2019 due to the Jammu Airport runway extension work at Belicharana side and the AAI preferred to replace the old system with new one for better aircraft operations.
“The advantage of new ILS is that it has better precision with advanced technology. Durable and less maintenance is involved and also cost effective. It will operate within visibility of 800 mtrs whereas earlier one was 1100 mtrs,” explained the Director Airport, adding that the new ILS has been procured from Spanish Company INDRA while the cost of equipment and installation is approximately Rs 4 crores. The old lLS was procured from Norway based company NORMAC.
Earlier, due to non-availability of the construction aggregate, the civil work involved in commissioning of Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Jammu Airport had remained stalled for several months.
Despite installation of the Radar and associated equipments, the ILS could not be commissioned earlier since the required 300 meters flat surface concrete platform for front clearance and reading path were not constructed as the construction material had not been available due to ban on mining along river beds in Jammu.
The Instrument Landing System (ILS) is a standard International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) precision landing aid that is used to provide accurate azimuth and descent signals for guidance to aircraft for landing on the runway under normal or adverse weather conditions. ILS facility is a highly accurate and dependable means of navigating to the runway in IFR conditions. The ILS provides the lateral and vertical guidance necessary to fly a precision approach. When all components of the ILS system are available, including the approved approach procedure, the pilot may execute a precision approach.
This ILS system for safe landing and taking off the flights is now installed and commissioned at Jammu Airport thus given a great relief to the passengers, who are forced to suffer during fog and poor visibility in winters.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
