After interfering with the instrument landing system (ILS) signals and causing aviation officials to worry about safety, a crane at the Delhi airport that was being used for construction work on a highway became a nuisance for almost a week. Cranes are being employed in the vicinity of CAT III-compliant runway 11R as part of the construction of the Urban Extension Road– II (UER 2) by the National expressway Authority of India (NHAI), which will connect North Delhi to the Delhi-Jaipur expressway.
A conference was called by representatives from Delhi International Airport Ltd, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), and the National Heath Authority of India (NHAI) to discuss the problem after over 100 flights were delayed or diverted at Delhi Airport last week due to harsh weather and fog. It was established by those with knowledge of the situation that a crane near the 11R side of the runway caused interference with the ILS signals.
According to SOPs, NHAI is not permitted to work close to the runway after 8 p.m. Additionally, the NHAI personnel have been requested to resume work in the morning only after receiving permission from the shift in charge, an AAI official, after reviewing the weather forecast.
But according to the NHAI representative, "active cooperation is how NHAI and AAI work together. When vision is a problem, the AAI advises us to lower the cranes. We only bring the cranes back to life after we receive the all-clear from AAI. AAI makes sure that none of our tasks are impacted, and NHAI is sensitive to safety concerns.
Analysts agreed that landings during the situation should not have been permitted by airport officials. Aircraft safety consultant Mohan Ranganathan advised authorities to take prompt action and downgrade the runway to CAT II (from CAT III) when an ILS experiences problems.
