South runway of Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport is now CAT III B compliant, which will allow aircraft to land even under 50-metre visibility.
CAT III B is an instrument landing system (ILS) which helps to guide pilots to land during difficult visibility conditions.
"Inclement weather and foggy conditions will now have minimal impact on the movement of aircraft. Aiding smooth operations during low visibility are the newly-installed advanced Instrument Landing System (ILS), Airfield Ground Lights (AGL), meteorological equipment such as Transmissometre, Automatic Weather Observatory Station (AWOS), Surface Movement Radar (SMR) and other navigational aids," according to an official release.
With this upgrade, the South Runway can facilitate aircraft landing with a runway visual range as low as 50 metres and take-offs at 125 metres. Until now, the permissible visual range was 550 m and 300 m, for landing and take-off, respectively.
This makes BLR Airport the only airport in South India and sixth in the country with CAT III B runway, read the release.
BLR Airport has obtained regulatory approvals to operationalise the runway with successful completion of both trial and calibration flights followed by an inspection by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Airlines are required to deploy crew trained for CAT III operations to make the optimum use of the facility.
In 2019, BLR Airport signed an agreement with Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) to conduct a collaborative study on atmospheric conditions in the vicinity of the airport.
The rehabilitation of the North Runway, which has been closed for operations from June 22, 2020, is underway. The rehabilitation includes strengthening and resurfacing of the runway as well as installation of LED Runway Centre Line lights and Runway Edge Lights. These enhancements will offer flexibility to operate in low visibility and adverse weather conditions, as per the release.
( With inputs from ANI )
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