The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is gearing up to complete the conversion of the existing approach lighting system into Barrette Cat I approach lighting system at the beginning of Runway 32 of the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.
A barrette is three or more ground aeronautical lights closely spaced together in a transverse line so as to appear as a bar of lights at least three metres in length from a distance. Placed every 30 metres, they will ensure more visibility of the central line of the runway to the pilot about to land.
The Barrette light system, as specified by the Director General of Civil Aviation, is mandatory for the airport to get the aerodrome licence.
The installation of the high intensity, uni-directional barrette lights for all weather conditions has been completed in the first 540 m of the threshold of the runway on the Vallakadavu side. The remaining 360 m is outside the airport premises till Muttathara on the approach path to Runway 32 that is 3,396-m long.
The AAI has secured permission of the Public Works Department to mount the lights on the Ponnara bridge above the Parvathy Puthanar that runs close to the boundary wall. The AAI says the light system with one cross bar will not affect the movement of road users through the bridge. In the Barrette system, one pole will be at the beginning of the NS depot-Vallakadavu road near the Ponnara bridge and the other on Ponnara bridge approach road and the height clearance will be 5.5 m from the ground. Other lights near the bank of the Parvathy Puthanar will be installed on cantilever/GI truss.
In Muttathara, these lights will be mounted on the land under the AAI. It hopes that the local people will support the initiative following the talks with the Vallakadavu-Vayyamoola Joint Action Council and the residents’ association in the locality.
Precision landing
The barrette lights will supplement the Instrument Landing System (ILS) installed to guide aircraft to precision landing. With ILS, the aircraft can land at low visibility of even 800 metres.
“The commissioning of the lighting system will bring it further down and the Air Traffic Control will not have to go for flight diversion from here to adjoining airports during inclement weather,” Airport Director C.V. Ravindran told The Hindu. The AAI is planning to complete the works by October.
