BENGALURU: To facilitate safe landing of aircraft, the HAL Airport installed a new Instrument Landing System (ILS) on its premises recently. The replacement, done after three decades, is to plan for its future growth as well as enhance the present safety standards. It had recently installed a new radio navigation system to facilitate landing of planes safely.
In October, 1,301 flyers had made use of HAL Airport. An average of 12 small aircraft, military aircraft, training, VIPs and VVIPs and a few private firms regularly use it.
“The flight calibration for commissioning the ILS has been completed and approvals are awaited to commission it. It costs Rs 10.55 crore,” K Anbarasu, Airport Director, HAL, told TNIE. The key components of the ILS are Localiser, Glide Path and Distance Measuring Equipment (DME).
“ILS is a precision approach aid used by aircraft to land safely, especially in poor visibility. It provides accurate lateral and vertical guidance to pilots ensuring a safe and aligned descent to the runway,” Anbarasu elaborated. The system being replaced has the same features as the earlier one as both are Category-I type. The runway visibility would be 550 m or more and the minimum decision height is 200 ft.
While the Localiser provides lateral guidance by transmitting signals that help alight the aircraft with the runway’s centre line, the Glide Path provides vertical guidance by ensuring the aircraft descends at the correct angle, usually around three degrees. “DME provides the distance to the touchdown point on the runway,” he added. It’s role in enhancing safety and improving operational efficiency makes it an indispensable tool in global air transportation.
In another safety addition recently, the Doppler Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range (DVOR)/DME, a radio navigation system used by aircraft, was replaced with a new one and commissioned on May 1, 2024 at a cost of Rs 6.12 crore.
“DVOR is used by aircraft to determine their position and stay on course. DME provides the slant range distance between the aircraft and the ground station,”the Director said. The DVOR and DME are essential navigational aids used in aviation for en-route navigation, approach, and departure procedures.
“The DVOR provides Azimuth information (the direction to or from the station) to aircraft. This helps pilots and onboard navigation systems determine their position relative to the DVOR station,” Anbarasu added.