Instrument landing system at Amritsar's Rajasansi international airport to be upgraded
13 Aug 2008
Amritsar's Rajasansi international airport will soon have a category II Instrument Landing System (ILS) installed that will help reduce cancellation and delays of flights in adverse weather conditions.
The category II system will facilitate landings in low-visibility conditions.
The system will help guide a pilot up to 50-ft height, which will allow landings to take place in moderate to heavy fog conditions. Currently the airport is equipped with only a category I system, which provides pilots guidance of up to 200 ft height.
A category 3 system allows blind landings to take place.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already placed orders for the ILS-II equipment with a Germany-based flight safety equipment firm. The equipment, airport authorities said is expected to arrive sometime over the next couple of months.
The conversion to ILS-II system is part of the up-gradation process of 35 non-metro airports in the country.
According to AAI officials, the new ILS-II system is expected to improve the frequency of flights. They said that even if the fog is thick the pilot will receive guidance till 50 ft and will be able to land with the help of signals sent from the ILS-II.