Bangalore:
An automatic weather station at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) is the dire need of the hour, given the disruption of flight schedules by fog conditions in the city. The setting up of the system, however, has been eluding the airport even after three years of its launch.
Foggy conditions on the BIA runway on September 30 morning delayed takeoff of 16 flights. The delays, ranging from 15 minutes to 45 minutes, overcrowded check-in and security hold areas, causing inconvenience to hundreds of passengers. Visibility had been reduced to about 300 metres.
However, the expansion plan undertaken by the airport too has not provided any room for the automatic weather station.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said there was a dire need to have the system at the airport as it could come up with accurate forecast. Currently, the IMD is taking all the readings manually. The Met park on the runway is connected to cables through which the readings are taken and manually tabulated, leaving room for error.
The airport as is located close to Nandi Hills and experiences downpour and intense fog. At times, the visibility gets reduced to below 200 metres. Also, the observatory will help in giving minute-by-minute and accurate data, which is essential for pilots during the takeoff and landing.
While airport sources maintained that search was on for the land to house automatic weather station, IMD officials were unhappy with the location.
B Puttanna, director, IMD-Bangalore, said, "BIA is giving us land 1 km away from the airport for setting up the observatory. This is not suitable." The BIA was the only international airport without an observatory, he added.
The IMD office at BIA does not even record rainfall data, which is crucial for the pilots, especially during the formation of vertical clouds and clumino-nimbus clouds.
IMD officials are now waiting for the government's intervention so that the weather station could be set up close to the runway to facilitate accurate readings.
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