Chennai :

Planes have started to roll on the country’s first runway with a bridge. Two flights — an A320 and a B737 — landed on the secondary runway at Chennai airport on Saturday, for the first time after it was extended across Adyar river at a cost of 550 crore.

The pilots had to peer out of the cockpit to control the plane’s altitude, speed and navigate because instrument landing system (ILS), which sends out signals that help a jetliner to home in on a runway, has not been installed.

An Air India Port Blair-Chennai flight was the first to land on the runway at 2.42pm and a Jet Airways flight from Goa to Chennai landed at 4.16pm. It was part of Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) efforts to commission the runway for use.

“Pilots followed visual flight rules as the runway does not have ILS. The runway was found to be fine and the landing proved that A320 and B737 can use it for landing without hassle,” said a senior AAI official.

The AAI has decided to use the second runway only when main runway is closed for maintenance. Besides the fact that it does not have ILS, there are restrictions on its usable length and available space for flight movement.

Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) cleared the runway as safe for use in March. Officials were satisfied with the third-party study conducted by Anna University after aviation experts raised concerns on safety of the runway bridge.

The bridge was built to extend the runway length to 11,500ft. In June 2013, DGCA asked the AAI to appoint an independent agency to evaluate the structural safety of the runway bridge. tnn

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India  / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / May 11th, 2014