ATC blames poor upkeep for radar failure at Delhi airport

A blame game over the radar collapse at the Air Traffic Control (ATC) of the Delhi airport has begun with the ATC citing ‘improper maintenance’ of equipment by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) as the reason for the collapse.

An AAI technical team was responsible for maintenance of the ATC equipment for the last two years. Before that, it was carried out by US-based defence software company Raytheon. On Thursday evening, the radar system of ATC at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport stopped working for more than an hour, delaying at least 200 flights by up to three hours. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has launched a probe, headed by Joint Director General A K Chopra.

AAI officials are, however, tightlipped about the incident. They said, since the DGCA has ordered an enquiry, it would be improper for them to comment. A source at the ATC accepted that a screen went blank. “But the bigger question is: Why did that screen go blank? Improper maintenance of the equipment led to the equipment getting damaged. Then, the AAI’s team might have replaced the damaged equipment with sub-standard equipment,” the source said.

According to him, what added to the officials woes was that the backup system Catastrophic Direct Radar Access (CDRA), which is switched on during such circumstances, did not function on Thursday night when the incident occurred.

The source added that the ATC at the New Delhi airport does not have a backup in place. “Had there been a backup, it would have functioned. Any way, we have to wait for the enquiry to conclude and see what the investigators find,” the source added.