50 flights diverted in 3 days due to unavailability of CAT 3 trained pilots: Official

As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the fog period is defined from December 10 to February 10 and the window for CAT III (category 3, an instrument landing system) operations is defined from 9pm to 10am

Around 86% of Delhi-bound flights were diverted due to the unavailability of trained pilots to land in dense fog season, according to the data obtained from Delhi airport officials.

Flights were diverted from Delhi due to thick fog (Representative Photo)

50 out of the total 58 flights that were diverted between December 25 midnight to 6am on Thursday were due to the “airlines not rostering pilots who are trained to land in extremely poor visibility at airports”, showed the data

IndiGo had a maximum number of flights diverted due to this. “13 IndiGo flights were diverted as it had not rostered required pilots to land during the fog season. This was followed by Air India and SpiceJet with 10 flights each,” a Delhi airport official said.

Further, five Vistara, three Akasa and two Alliance Air flights were also diverted due to the non-availability of pilots who are trained to land in bad weather conditions.

Moreover, VietJet, Malindo Air, Fly Dubai, Air Asia, and Ethiopian Airlines also had one diversion each as the pilots operating their flights were not trained to land in poor visibility.

As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the fog period is defined from December 10 to February 10 and the window for CAT III (category 3, an instrument landing system) operations is defined from 9pm to 10am.

CAT III or category III is an instrument landing system (ILS) that allows aircraft to land in low visibility situations where the visibility is 50m, like during rains, dense fog or, in snow.

“The first few days of the fog season every year are a bit tough as CAT III compliant pilots are occupied in other sectors. However, as the fog season commences, airlines roster them as per the requirement. Hence, this situation is temporary and will be much better soon,” an airline official requesting anonymity said.

India currently has 4,804 pilots - 2,979 captains and 1,825 co-pilots, trained to land in fog, and six Indian airports have category III ILS.

While the airport officials blamed the airlines for the flight diversions, a few officials close to the matter highlighted that Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) was operating only one runway where flights could land in such poor visibility.

Industry experts said that the situation is a result of both the unavailability of the second CAT III-compliant runway as well as airlines not prioritising CAT III training for pilots.

The IGIA has four runways and it has been operating with three. Due to this, the only runway – 29L/11R – which is CAT III compliant, allows aircraft to land in such extreme weather conditions.

“If only one runway is available for landing at the country’s biggest airport, it will lead to consequential flight delays and even diversions,” a senior airline official said.

An Air India official said that even if the fog reduces the visibility below the minimum visual range (75 mtrs), a CAT III landing cannot be executed even by crew trained in Cat III. “Air India strictly adheres to the time frame for rostering pilots trained to land in dense fog as laid down by DGCA.”

An industry experts on condition of anonymity said, “At present, an airline spends not more than Rs.3 lakhs per pilot, this includes both classroom and simulator training. Hence, it is not very expensive for an airline to make a pilot CAT III compliant.”