Air Safety Week

Air Safety Week : Everybody related to aviation industry has celebrated air safety week (from 10th to 15th Dec. 2007) but nobody discussed about aviation warning lights which should be mounted on cluttering telecommunication towers here and there. As day by day use of mobile phones are increasing, subsequently telecommunication towers are increasing which could be hazardous to air flights. We should inform and alert the related industries to mount aviation warning lights on high rise buildings, chimneys, cooling towers, telecommunication towers etc. Articles published in newspapers had discussed everything about air safety but missed obstruction lights.  

Some of the articles are mentioned below –

“Relax.  Our Pilots and Air Traffic Control Officers (ATCOs) undergo the highest level of training laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Moreover, 3-4 backup systems ensure that there is no room for errors. The fact is that automation and integration of systems reduce human errors to a negligible limit. Take for instance, the GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) project for our satellite navigation system. This soon to be launched satellite system will make india the fourth country in the world to operationalise it. This will enable us to handle more traffic and further help ATCOs to handle heavy traffic with ease. 
The ATCOs are trained at the Civil aviation training college at Allahabad. It is a state-of-the-art institute that imparts world-class training. MITRE Corporation of USA which assists the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of USA has been engaged by the Airport Authority of Indian (AAI) to provide the latest techniques for air space management and safe flow of air traffic. Continous upgradation of skills of ATCOs is also taken care of by refresher training and on-site training at airports abroad.
Some more safety measures to make you savor your flight:
Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radars (MSSRs) have been presently installed at 12 key locations in India. Thereby covering the entire Indian airspace and helping ATCOs to monitor the flight path of an aircraft saeamlessly from one radar to another.
Automatic Dependence Surveillance (ADS) provides both pilots and ATCOs with highly accurate traffic data from satellites on a real time basis.
Like some of the best international airports, we have Cat-II and Cat-III Instrument Landing Systems to ensure safe aircraft movement during poor visibility and fog.
Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) has been introduced including decoding of “Black boxes” to reduce human errors in flight operations.
International guidelines for safety prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are also strictly followed.  ICAO’s Universal Safety Oversight Audit indicated India’s compliance with their standards and recommended practices to be more than 98%.
Yes, the truth is that almost every year the passenger traffic has been growing at the rate of 40%. Delhi and Mumbai airports are now handling traffic equivalent to some of the busiest airports of the world. It is equally true that the Indian skies are one of the safest in the world.”

Published in The Economic Times