The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has commenced work to install the Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) in the Kannur international airport to ensure the safety and efficiency of aircraft operations.
The weather monitoring system is being installed by the IMD, Pune, with the support of the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Bengalaru, as per the guidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), at a cost of ₹3 crore in the fourth international airport of the State.
The facility is being set up in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower and on the end of the Runway 25. Besides AWOS, the system has Runway Visual Range (RVR)-Drishti, an indigenously developed visibility measuring mechanism designed and fabricated by the NAL.
Weather updates
Instead of passing the information manually to the ATC and through them to the pilot, the IMD will send minute-wise weather updates in the form of audio messages directly to the pilot. The pilot can choose to receive this information every two or three minutes.
The commander of the arriving and departing aircraft is required to know the accurate wind speeds and wind gusts, wind direction, temperature and dew point, visibility, density altitude, thunderstorm and lightning for the operations.
The installation and testing of the equipment is led by Arul Paligan A, scientist, NAL, and J.K.S. Yadav, scientist-D, IMD. Kannur International Aiport Limited (KIAL) has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for AWOS with the IMD and it is valid for three years after which it will be renewed. The IMD will also manage the equipment.
