Arrival and departure procedures in the New Delhi airport terminal manoeuvring area (TMA) have been revised since the collision on 12 November, 1996 between a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 which killed 349 people (Flight International, 20-26 November 1996, P8), according to the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The collision occurred when the pilots of the inbound and outbound aircraft were following air-traffic- control instructions to fly reciprocals of the same radial from Delhi's VOR radio navigation beacon; they were supposed to have been separated vertically. Now the DGCA has opened up a new corridor through the terminal area in what used to be military airspace, allowing arriving and departing aircraft to use separate corridors.
Meanwhile, the flight-data recorders and cockpit-voice recorders of both aircraft have finally been dispatched by the Court of Inquiry to the USA for downloading and analysis.
Funding through private investment from domestic and overseas sources for civil airport development has been cleared by the Government, says the civil-aviation ministry. This is part of a general industry liberalisation programme, the ministry explains.
Source: Flight International
