First it was a trapped gust of air that went rogue. And now, it’s ‘demon’ droplets of water, formed from the air-conditioners’ condesate. That’s all it took to effectively bring the roof down at the Rs 2,200 crore domestic terminal at the Chennai airport, which has been operational for all of four months.
For the second time since the terminal was thrown open to the public, a large section of the false ceiling came crashing down. Luckily, the roof gave way on a Saturday night at 12.50 am - an hour that no domestic planes operate at, which meant that no one was around when it happened.
Frighteningly, the section of gypsum board and the Armstrong ceiling tiles that came crashing down was right behind the row of check-in counters in the East Wing. “It was between the conveyor belts that take luggage down and the check-in counters where airline staff work. Had it been peak traffic hour at the departure hall, then the airline staff would have been injured for sure,” said an official with the Airports Authority of India, the enterprise that built and operates the terminal.
“It appears that due to heavy condensation, the gypsum board ceiling had become full of moisture. It kept getting heavier and finally fell off the ceiling frame. The condensate had come from the return air that the AC diffusers use,” said Airport Director H S Suresh. Officials from AAI were pulled out of bed in the wee hours on Sunday, since this is the second such incident. Engineers from AAI also went to the departure gate to ascertain why the incident had happened. They removed all 23 broken ceiling tiles and cleared the debris by 4 am.
In May, a section of the same gypsum board false ceiling had fallen in the departure gates H 4 and H 5. This time, there will be no temporary patchwork. “We have conducted a detailed study and AAI has identified the vulnerable ceiling areas and will replace them with lighter, non-moisture absorbing false ceiling material like aluminium metal false ceiling strips,” he added. He also assured that the aluminium would serve their need better and that it’s much safer in comparison.
“Risky sites have been found in both the domestic and international terminals and the replacement work has been commissioned. It will be completed in 2 months,” he said.