The infamous aviation “Bermuda Triangle,” covering skies over Kochi, Kozhikode and Coimbatore airports, will soon be history with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) deciding to bring the air space under the jurisdiction of the air traffic control of the Nedumbassery International Airport.
“The problem is that no radar properly paints aircraft while flying in this sector and there have been at least four incidents of near-miss in the last few years,” an AAI source told this newspaper.
So airport officials started calling it “Bermuda Triangle” after the region in the Atlantic Ocean where several aircraft and ship have disappeared mysteriously.
But such fears will become a thing of the past with a major initiative being launched to integrate Kochi ATC with radars at Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru (HAL) and Mangalore airports.
This will boost radar signals and help generate accurate signatures of aircraft operating in the Kochi-Kozhikode-Coimbatore sector. To prevent recurrence of near-misses AAI has decided to authorise Kochi ATC to handle all traffic below 26,000 ft ceiling. Aircraft flying above 26,000 ft and 46,000 ft will be controlled by Chennai ATC. Kochi will handle more than 235 flights.
“This will help in streamlining,” said the source. “Kochi will have low-area control over traffic from Kozhikode, Coimbatore and Kannur when the new airport is commissioned. The new system will help give better digital information to all airports.”
An air traffic controller will now be able to see exact co-ordinates of a plane as soon as it is picked by the radar of any of the southern airports. This adds to air safety as all ATCs will have real-time position of all aircraft in the area.