NATIONAL 2 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Ground Realities

Aircraft movement increases significantly with no improvement in ground back-up facility

By A CORRESPONDENT

Radar system at TIA : Communication gap

Ram Kaji Maharjan, a resident nearby Tribhuvan International Airport, is planning to shift his residence far from the only international airport in the country.

This despite the fact that the price of the piece of land he owns nearby TIA goes up remarkably high every year. So what made this 30 year old middle class family take such an odd decision? "It's all because I am told that the area around the airport has become dangerous."

Why? "Almost every day we get to hear that aircrafts arriving at TIA and flying from here have increasing risk of mid-air collision. If it happens nearby my house, my family and I myself stand the risk of losing our lives," he says.

The fear is not confined to Maharjan alone. Even pilots flying planes from and to TIA share the same concern. Take the latest spine-chilling unconfirmed report of three airborne aircraft having nearly escaped a mid-air collision nearby TIA. While informed sources blame the laxity of control tower for the incident, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has come out with a defending statement though.

Whatever happened on that day, pilots operating scheduled flights do have complaints against the Air Traffic Control System at TIA. "We have been facing such problems quite often," says a pilot with Necon Air requesting anonymity.

Captain Dadi Ram Niraula, Chief Pilot of Necon Air, went on the record with one weekly last week: With the present arrangement at the TIA, the days are not far when we will have to hear the news of mid-air collision of aircraft.

This is what he had to say in detail: In most of the mornings, more than half a dozen of aircraft take off and land at the TIA at the same time. In such a condition, all the pilots operating aircraft may not get a chance to establish contact with the control tower since the Air Control System at TIA either remains out of order or it cannot communicate to all the approaching and taking off aircrafts at the same time.

"While some air aircraft prepare to land, at the same time other planes are all set to take off. In such a situation, the control tower cannot perform smoothly largely due to the lack of good communication system."

And that has a reason. Installed in 1988 with the Australian Aid, TIA's communication equipment -- under its air traffic control system -- have undergone massive wear and tear by now. "Since many of the equipment have no spare parts, they have already become non-functional," says a senior official at CAAN.

To make things worse, the area control -- one of the air traffic control systems at TIA -- has already begun to malfunction due to interfering frequencies emanating from pagers and cell phones' operations. "The modern telecommunication facilities like pager and cell phones have obstructed the area control's link system installed at Phulchowki Hill," says Pradip N Sharma, Chief of TIA Modernization Project.

Bearing the brunt due to the poor communication system is TIA's two-in-one Aerodrome and Secondary Surveillance (ASR/SSR) Radar installed some two years ago with the Japanese grant assistance of 1.7 billion Rupees.

Already handicapped by the mountain rim around the Capital Valley -- that obstruct its signals -- the ASR/SSR RADAR's advantage is yet to be fully exploited due to the poor communication facility.

Though the Radar has the range of 60 to 200 nautical miles, the system cannot locate aircraft flying outside the valley and below the altitude of the surrounding mountains that have an average height of 9,000 feet. While domestic aircraft flying to and from the southern districts maintain altitude as low as 6,000 feet.

Add to that the increasing number of aircraft flying in the domestic routes. It is these small sized aircrafts that buzz the Nepalese skies more than the jets of the international airlines do.

Records with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) show above 50 registered aircraft -- operated by the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation, private operators and the government -- are already flying within the Nepalese skies. Most of them operating from Kathmandu as their base.

Many more continue to join the bandwagon. While one and a half dozen of companies are already under operation in the domestic front, around equal number of private companies have acquired the Aircraft Operating Certificates (AOCs).

That means, they will take off for business in the domestic routes the moment they bring in their aircraft.

Figures speak it all: In 1998, total aircraft movement in the domestic route has been recorded at around 35,000 including both arrivals and departures. These included the embarkment and disembarkment of around 700,000 passengers that year.

Even as the number of aircraft has shot up, safety regulations have not been strictly implemented. The issue of installing transponder (a communication equipment in aircraft) is a case in point.

Due to the missing equipment in the aircraft, the Radar scobe only blips displaying the location of the aircraft, but does not identify the aircraft type and its altitude. Which means the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) cannot warn the aircraft flying without transponder even if it is maintaining a risky altitude.

"Most of the RNAC aircraft do not have transponder in them," says an Air Traffic Controller at TIA.

Such lapses explain why increasing number of air incidents and air accidents are taking place in Nepalese skies. Going by CAAN's record, 30 aircraft incidents, with no fatality though, took place between 1996 and 1997.

In 1999, thirty persons lost their lives in three crashes while 27 died in four air accidents the year before.

REDP Wins Intl Award

Rural Energy Development Program (REDP) of the United Nations Development Program has been presented with the Energy Globe Award 2000. The award is an international recognition of the innovative and impressive accomplishments of REDP in the sector of developing energy in rural areas of Nepal. More than 900 projects and initiatives from 72 countries around the world participated in the competition. The awards were given in four categories --commercial sector, housing campaigns and public investment projects. In the public investment category, REDP was placed second amongst 900 applicants in all four categories. Nepal and China were the only Asian countries that made to the final list of 5. The award has been instituted by Energiesparverband, an Austrian organization that promotes renewable energy technologies. In line with the goal of the HMG and UNDP, REDP has been successful in forging ahead in the development of rural areas of the country through the promotion of community-managed renewable energy systems showing impressive results in poverty alleviation, environment management and gender equality. At present, the REDP is working in more than 70 VDCs of 10 hilly districts of the country that includes Baitadi, Dadeldhura, Accham, Baglung, Myagdi, Parbat, Tanahu, Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk and Kavre. Meanwhile, REDP has also been selected to represent its work at the Hannover Expo 2000 to be held in June this year in Germany.