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ShareMumbai: The Mumbai airport is finding it difficult to provide light at the end of the landing routine for aircraft. Over the last two weeks, there have been more than 15 instances of taxiways of the airport being without lights.
Mumbai airport has around 22 taxiways. Lights on the edge of the taxiways help an aircraft to safely reach the parking bay from the runway after landing. Minus the edge lights to guide it, an aircraft runs the risk of missing the parking bay and taxing onto the grass nearby, outside the taxiway path. The problem becomes acute at night, and even more during heavy rains when the visibility is low.
On July 4, the tyre of a Saudi Airline flight burst as it taxied itself from the main runway 09-27 to taxiway N8 of the Mumbai airport. "The huge Boeing 747 aircraft normally uses N9 taxiway to vacate the runway. But that day it had to use taxiway N8 as there were no lights on taxiways N9 and N10," a source at the Mumbai airport said.
Again, on July 3, the lights of taxiways N7, N8, N9 and N10 were not working due to a cable fault. And on July 10, the lights of taxiways N9 and N10 were not functioning from 8pm to 9pm.
And, on July 15, the central lights of the main runway 09-27 were not working.
Sources said that taxiways have had problems with lights ever since construction work in the operational area of the airport started. "There is a lot of construction activity in the operational area of the airport. Those involved in the work have been hired on contract and they do not know the location of the electricity wires. They end up cutting the wires," an officer said.
"We are entirely dependent on the taxiway lights to guide the aircraft to the parking bay safely," a member of the Indian Commercial Pilot Association (ICPA) said. "Moreover, the taxiways at the end of the main runway (N8, N9, N10) are waterlogged whenever it rains heavily," he said. "If we are not able to see the taxiway we may take the aircraft to the muddy/grassy area. The passengers and crew will be inconvenienced as they will have to disembark there itself," he said.
'All taxiway lights areoperational'
The spokesperson for Mumbai International Airport Limited said lights on the taxiways used to not function for a few hours in the last few days. "That problem has been rectified and all lights are operational," the spokesperson said. There was no impact on flight operations, he said. The centreline lights of the main runway were not working on July 15 as there was a circuit problem due to heavy rains. "They are not mandatory but the edge lights are important," he said.
Expert speak
According to aviation expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan, it is dangerous not to have lights on the taxiway at night. "Without seeing these edge lights the pilot cannot judge the paved surface and might take the aircraft into the muddy/grassy area and get stuck there," he said. "As per ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation), a taxiway without lights should not be used at night time," he said.
