The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has started the trial run of the new landing technique at the ChhatrapatiShivaji International Airport (CSIA). Under the new procedure, though, when the landing instruction is given, the runway will be anything but clear of aircraft. 

 

For, even as an aircraft is rolling for takeoff, the controller would have given landing clearance to a descending aircraft. Or, there may be aircraft waiting in sequence to land and the second or third aircraft would have already received landing clearance. In short, it is left for the landing pilot to ensure that the aircraft that is taking off has lifted and has cleared the runway before the landing aircraft crosses the runway's threshold to touch down. If that is not the case, the landing pilot has to do a go-around.

 

In short, it is left for the landing pilot to ensure that the aircraft that is taking off has lifted and has cleared the runway. In the end, the procedure is one of many that congested airports the world over are forced to follow. As aircraft in the sky increase, they need to be bunched tighter. Remarks a ATC official, “The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has instructed the procedure to be put on a trial basis for three monthsIf successful in Mumbai, the procedure may be replicated in other congested airports like Delhi and Bangalore. While Mumbai may be the first airport to carry out the trial in India, airports like London's Heathrow and New York's JFK, and the one in Newark have been following the practice for more than a decade.”

 

 

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