Buddha disrupts flight path at Delhi airport
Airport authorities built new runway near religious site where 16 metre-high statue is under construction
Gethin Chamberlain in Delhi
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 December 2009
A plane comes in to land behind a large religious statue on the flight path of Delhi's Indira Gandhi airport. Photograph: Gethin Chamberlain
Airline pilots trying to land on a controversial new runway at Delhi's international airport face an unusual hazard in the form of a giant statue of Buddha.
Work has already started on the 16-metre-high (54ft) copper statue on a religious site which lies in the landing funnel area of the flight path about 1km from the end of the runway.
The 1,000 crore rupee (£133m) runway at Indira Gandhi International airport has been beset by problems since it opened in August last year.
Pilots already have to cope with a 24-metre-high statue of Lord Shiva, one of the most important Hindu gods, which stands, clutching a trident, close to the Buddha site.
Its presence means that only 2.4km of the runway's 4.4km length is available to pilots landing from the east.
Reports in India suggest some pilots are already reluctant to use the runway, with particular concerns raised about flying in the dense fog which frequently descends during the Delhi winter.
The fog is said to be more dense around the new runway than around the old main runway, although more pilots are being trained to carry out instrument landings.
Even before the first plane took off from the runway there were problems, when a stray dog was spotted wandering along the tarmac.
Four days after it opened, it was shut again because of problems with the instrument landing system.
Air traffic controllers have complained that it is too far from the tower, and there have been glitches with the ground radar system which enables them to identify what is on the runway.
Yesterday craftsmen working on the statue insisted the fault lay with the airport for failing to take the presence of the religious site into consideration when deciding where to build the runway. The man in charge of the site, who declined to give his name, said the statues were important religious symbols.
"This statue [of Shiva] has been here for 20 years and work on the runway started only a couple of years ago so this is negligence on the part of the officials," he said.
Delhi International Airport, which operates the airport, has admitted the existing statue can shorten the available length of the runway, but insists it is still long enough to accommodate commercial airliners, including the new A380 Airbus.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
Airport authorities built new runway near religious site where 16 metre-high statue is under construction
Gethin Chamberlain in Delhi
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 December 2009
A plane comes in to land behind a large religious statue on the flight path of Delhi's Indira Gandhi airport. Photograph: Gethin Chamberlain
Airline pilots trying to land on a controversial new runway at Delhi's international airport face an unusual hazard in the form of a giant statue of Buddha.
Work has already started on the 16-metre-high (54ft) copper statue on a religious site which lies in the landing funnel area of the flight path about 1km from the end of the runway.
The 1,000 crore rupee (£133m) runway at Indira Gandhi International airport has been beset by problems since it opened in August last year.
Pilots already have to cope with a 24-metre-high statue of Lord Shiva, one of the most important Hindu gods, which stands, clutching a trident, close to the Buddha site.
Its presence means that only 2.4km of the runway's 4.4km length is available to pilots landing from the east.
Reports in India suggest some pilots are already reluctant to use the runway, with particular concerns raised about flying in the dense fog which frequently descends during the Delhi winter.
The fog is said to be more dense around the new runway than around the old main runway, although more pilots are being trained to carry out instrument landings.
Even before the first plane took off from the runway there were problems, when a stray dog was spotted wandering along the tarmac.
Four days after it opened, it was shut again because of problems with the instrument landing system.
Air traffic controllers have complained that it is too far from the tower, and there have been glitches with the ground radar system which enables them to identify what is on the runway.
Yesterday craftsmen working on the statue insisted the fault lay with the airport for failing to take the presence of the religious site into consideration when deciding where to build the runway. The man in charge of the site, who declined to give his name, said the statues were important religious symbols.
"This statue [of Shiva] has been here for 20 years and work on the runway started only a couple of years ago so this is negligence on the part of the officials," he said.
Delhi International Airport, which operates the airport, has admitted the existing statue can shorten the available length of the runway, but insists it is still long enough to accommodate commercial airliners, including the new A380 Airbus.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
