Delhi’s IGI airport goes blind as ATC systems crash
14 Jan 2010
New Delhi: Flight operations at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi were completely put out of gear on Thursday evening following the crash of the air traffic control (ATC) systems. No takeoffs or landings took place for more than two hours, between 1745 hrs IST and 1845 hrs IST, as all systems, including radars, failed.
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| Raytheon ASR-11 |
All systems were finally restored at around 2030 hrs IST.
According to reports, airspace usage was reduced to 1/8th of its maximum capacity after the crash.
ATC found it difficult to control aircraft after the systems crash as the entire airspace from Udhampur to Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the west, from Lucknow to Khajuraho became a blind spot.
Reports indicate that the software installed in the ATC systems had become corrupt. The entire system was reloaded and restarted, a process that took about three hours.
With the radar unavailable, standard separation between two aircraft, which is normally 10 miles, had to be increased to 80 miles.
