Visibility meters fail in fog fight

New Delhi: For a good 80 minutes, authorities at the Indira Gandhi International Airport were clueless about the Runway Visual Range (RVR) as meters installed at the mid and end-point of the main runway conked off.
Both the RVR meters, installed by the Meteorological Department to measure the visibility of light and surface markings, were hit by a snag at 6 am and could only be repaired by 7.20 am. This, when dense fog had reduced instrument visibility below 300 metres and general visibility below 100 metres between 5.30 am and 9 am today.
"Out of the three RVR meters installed ... the ones at mid-point and point 10 suffered from a mechanical problem. But we got them repaired promptly," R.K Jenamani, Met Department's Director In-charge at IGI said.
As many as 22 flights were delayed and only 36 flights could be operated during the LVP imposed between 5.10 am and 9.24 am.
13/12/06 Raghvendra Rao/Delhi Newsline

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline