The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has restored the ILS (Instrument Landing System) facility at the airport here after it became non-functional when a Dubai-bound Air India Express flight came into contact with some localiser antennae and a portion of the perimeter wall during take off from here.
A four-member team from the Flight Inspection unit of the AAI, New Delhi, carried out the flight calibration tests on Tuesday prior to restoration of the ILS facility.
Earlier, the AAI had replaced six damaged ILS localiser antennae with those dispatched from the Lucknow airport recently.
A separate team removed the damaged antennae and installed the fresh ones after obtaining clearance from a senior official of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau who conducted detailed inquiries at the airport for two days a few days ago.
Consequent to the installation of the antennae and its control units, the AAI sent a team from the Flight Inspection Unit including two pilots to carry out flight calibration tests which was mandatory before restoring the ILS facility. A senior official said on Wednesday that the tests were conducted for two hours between 2.30 p.m. and 4.30 p.m.
‘All parameters were found to be clear and the ILS facility was restored at around 5 p.m. on Tuesday.’
International and domestic flights have started using the ILS facility for landing at the Tiruchi airport.
Ever since the incident took place a fortnight ago, all aircraft were being guided through an alternative system of Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range facility which has direct overseas connectivity to Colombo, Sharjah, Dubai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
The official said the Tiruchi airport authorities have lifted the NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) which it had issued soon after the incident took place to alert pilots.
The Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range facility would continue to be used for en-route navigation, the official added.
