Passengers face delays of up to 40 min; urged to check flight status before leaving homes
Thick layer of fog in Delhi has caused low visibility conditions. File pics
Over 100 flights were delayed and 10 were cancelled due to low visibility conditions in Delhi on Friday. Sources from Mumbai Air Traffic Control told mid-day, “From 4 am, till 3.30 pm, a total of 22 flights arriving to Mumbai from Delhi faced disruptions due to the weather conditions in Delhi. Some of these flights faced a minor delay below 1 hour but certain flights faced a delay beyond 1 hour as well.”
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According to Delhi ATC sources, “The average delay faced by flights operating to/from Delhi during the morning weather condition was approximately 20 minutes per flight with certain flights facing even 30 minutes to 40 minutes delay.”
Delhi airport also confirmed that multiple flights were facing disruptions on Friday morning due to the weather conditions. In a statement, Delhi Airport said, “While landing and take-offs continue at Delhi Airport, flights that are not CAT III compliant may get affected. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information. Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.”
Similarly, IndiGO also released a travel advisory that stated, “Due to foggy conditions in Delhi, low visibility may lead to a change in flight schedules. We request you to stay updated with your flight status before heading to the airport.”
Explaining the CAT-III approach, the source said, “CAT-III is a precision instrument landing system (ILS) that allows aircraft to land safely in poor visibility conditions. CAT-III approaches are used in adverse weather conditions like fog, rain, or snow. CAT-III approaches use an automated system to guide the aircraft to the runway. The system also provides voice prompts to the pilot, including when to deploy flaps and apply brakes. There are three types of CAT-III approaches depending on the Runway visual range (RVR) and Decision Height.”
The source said, “The instrument landing system (ILS) has three categories namely Category 1, 2 and 3 that are abbreviated as CAT-I, CAT-II and CAT-III. Many aircraft that are ILS equipped are capable of all three approaches and often use them to align the aircraft to the runway to land. that being said, in clear visibility conditions, many pilots prefer hand flying the last 500 feet of the approach but in poor visibility conditions, depending on the visibility, the Pilots can opt for CAT-I, CAT-II or CAT-III approach.”
The source added, “CAT-III approaches use radio altimeter (RA) to determine decision height. CAT III operations require an automatic landing system to control the aircraft during the approach and landing. This is because CAT III weather conditions don't provide enough visual references for a manual landing. Pilots are responsible for deciding whether to perform a CAT-III approach, but they may receive advice from air traffic control (ATC) for using CAT-III as well.”
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