Airliners-India.com

megatop747

Around 85 aircraft flying over Kolkata lost contact with ground control for 10 chilling minutes on Thursday. The government has asked for a report on the incident that possibly endangered thousands of passengers.

A little after 7.30 am the screens at the Air Traffic Control or ATC that display the positions of aircraft reportedly went blank.

This reportedly shut the feed from aircraft tracking equipment. The controllers then turned to the "VHF" or Very High Frequency link to communicate with the aircraft but realized that was not working either.

Sources say the state-run BSNL network failed at the Kolkata airport, which led to a high frequency link with aircraft snapping. The lines, operated over internet protocol, are used to contact pilots and warn them about the distance between planes.

The communication breakdown almost stacked up a massive disaster for the ATC as the Kolkata region controls nearly half of India's continental airspace.

Frantic ATC officials then sent an SOS to their counterparts in Varanasi, Patna and Gaya and asked them to take over and guide aircraft movement.

Officials say the Kolkata ATC network was partially restored in 10 minutes

http://www.ndtv.com/kolkata-news/how-85-planes-flying-over-kolkata-went-off-radar-for-10-minutes-1340105?pfrom=home-topstories

The_Goat · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 6:28 pm Post subject:

Shocking!

Shouldn't they have adequate backup systems for such an eventuality? And given it is all controlled by BSNL and we all know whow they work, it is an absolute necessity!

I wonder what the ICAO will say about this!

And how come CCU controls half of India's airspace?
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HAWK21M · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 7:55 pm Post subject:

I thought the back up is in place for such ocassions.
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