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Mid-air collision: India`s tangled airspace
AIRPORTS AUTHORITY VS INDIAN AIR FORCE-II
Ajai Shukla / New Delhi February 01, 2007
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=273248&leftnm=3
&subLeft=0&chkFlg=
At Hyderabad airport, you buckle into your seat for the late afternoon
flight back to Delhi. The flight indicator tells you that Delhi is due
north. It will be a straight flight, you believe. No time lost. You silently
thank India's revolution in civil aviation.
Wrong! In the cockpit, the pilot has set course south instead of north.
Flying in wide circles south of Hyderabad, he climbs to 20,000 feet before
seemingly heading for Goa. Ninety kilometres later he will move towards
Pune, covering another 100 km before finally heading for Delhi.
These inefficient diversions of civil flights at Hyderabad are caused
because the airport is bordered by a vast swathe of restricted airspace
belonging to the Indian Air Force (IAF) flying academies of Hakimpeth and
Bidar.
By the time you reach Delhi you will have flown an extra 20 minutes, and the
airline will have spent Rs 40,000 extra as fuel cost. This wastage of time,
fuel and money is eventually borne by the traveller.
**The problem is not confined to Hyderabad. Almost half of India's airspace
belongs to the military. The country is dotted with IAF fighter, helicopter
and transport bases, training facilities, manufacturing units and design
establishments. Each of them was allotted thousands of square kilometres of
surrounding airspace at a time when civil flights were few and far between.
Civil aviation officials have not been able to persuade the IAF to loosen
airspace restrictions despite dramatically changed circumstances. **
Says Ajay Prasad, secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), "The problem
did not come into sharp focus as it is today. Now, with this expanding
fleet, opening new routes and bringing new cities into the air map, the need
for opening up the airspace has become much more important. It will cut
distances short and save flying time because instead of making detours you
will be able to fly in more of a straight line."
The Airports Authority of India (AAI), responsible for air traffic
management around civil airports and civilian air routes, has been working
with the IAF route by route, in an attempt to straighten domestic and
international air routes.
Under pressure from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO),
the IAF agreed to straighten seven international routes, but it has not
allowed a single domestic flight to fly unencumbered through its vast
airspace holdings.
AAI Chairman K Ramalingam says, "We would like the Air Force to be more
pro-active on restructuring air routes. We have urged them to release the
airspace to us when they are not using it."
The IAF explains that it has several reasons for such restrictions. Without
separate airspace, its highly agile aircraft, with flight patterns of rapid,
unexpected climbs and manoeuvres, will be a serious hazard to civil
airliners in the vicinity.
In several cases, the IAF has allowed civil flights to use its airspace
provided they remain above 20,000 feet, the ceiling for fighter and
helicopter flying.
But dividing airspace by altitude doesn't solve the problem. In cases like
Hyderabad, Bangalore and even Delhi, the IAF's airspace is so close to the
airport that civil flights enter it before they can climb to 20,000 feet.
Civil aviation authorities have come up with a proposal for "flexible use of
airspace", in which the IAF would freely allow civil flights into its
restricted airspace when IAF aircraft are not actually using it. Top IAF
officers, however, dismiss the idea of "time-sharing".
A series of expert committees on airspace issues, such as the Roy Paul
Committee, the Khola Committee and, most recently, the Naresh Chandra
Committee in October 2004, have pushed for flexible use of airspace.
The IAF's reaction to these recommendations mirrors the polarisation on
airspace issues between the civil aviation ministry and the air Force.
Senior IAF officers dismiss the recommendations, asking why the Naresh
Chandra Committee does not include an IAF representative.
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It is probably high time that a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was
appointed urgently to go objectiovel into the issues involved in Indian
civil and military aviation and recommend steps for the future which are
mandatory on both sides. The model for the JPC must be the non-partisan Base
Realignment And Closure (BRAC) process used periodically in the U.S. to
decide on military values of bases, their local economic and political
impact and the possibility of re-combining bases to economise and yet
maintain/enhance military capabilities. There may be a crying need to
consolidate and relocate military flight training facilities where they
cause minimum disruption to civilian flights while enhancing effectiveness
of training.There may also be a need to focus on a fewer number of proven
aircraft types to boost flight proficiency and reduce maintenance and
overhaul costs. Regarding Dabolim, I recently found out that the Navy
operates and even longer runway at an obscure base called INS Rajali at
Arakkonam near Chennai. Near Chennai there is also an IAF training station
called Tambaram. Why cant some consolidation of flight training take place
at Arakkonam? And btw, if some people object to the Navy shifting to Seabird
because of eco(logical) problems there, what about the eco(nomic) problems
Goa is facing due to unreasonable restrictions at Dabolim? Whose side are
you on, friend?
