Lights along runway malfunction.. Several flights to and from Nagpur Airport affected
| Date :13-Apr-2024 |
Staff Reporter
Several incoming and outgoing flights got delayed at Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport due to a technical glitch that disrupted power supply to the runway lights. ‘The Hitavada’ reader Prof Deepak Kulkarni brought this issue to the notice of this newspaper. He, along with his family, was travelling by an IndiGo flight from Goa to Nagpur. His flight was supposed to reach by 7.50 pm at Nagpur. He and his family boarded the flight at Goa and were seated inside aircraft for one-and-a-half hours. After repeated enquiry, flight attendant told him that the flight was not able to take off because of the malfunctioning runway lights at Nagpur airport.
‘The Hitavada’ received an information from airport sources that Runway End Identifier Lights (REIL) were not functioning. The engineer concerned was busy in restoring the light on the runway. The function of REILs installed at many airfields is to provide rapid and positive identification of the approach end of a particular runway. The system consists of a pair of synchronised flashing lights located laterally on each side of the runway threshold. According to airport sources, these lights were not functioning. By the time of filing this report, the engineer resolved the issue.
But this problem led to several flights being delayed. Almost all flights operating during evening and night were late by almost 2 hours, with some flights more than that. Some passengers told they were not provided proper information by their respective airlines. Fortunately, the airlines handled their passengers well by arranging their food and other comforts in a proper manner. Functional runway lights are essential for a safe landing, keeping the landing strip visible and signaling crucial landmarks along the runway pavement. There are nine color combinations of lighting to be found on airport runways and taxiways.