Cochin airport to get radar facility in 3 weeks

For its better performance, the Cochin International Airport in Kerala will be equipped with a radar system costing Rs 30 crore and it will become operational within three weeks. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) is conducting final tests and the nod from the Director General of Civil Aviation for commissioning the system is now awaited. Installation of the radar will reduce the landing time from the present six to nine minutes to approximately three minutes.

At the airiport, once full-fledged operations begin, aircraft landing and take-off will be totally under the control of the radar controller thereby minimising the need for any judgment by the pilot during these procedures, even under conditions of very limited visibility.

The radar system is comprised of Approach Surveillance Radar (ASR) and Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR). The ASR tracks approaching the airport within a range of 20 nautical miles while MSSR detects and measures the position of aircraft i.e. range and bearing, but also requests additional information from the aircraft such as its identity and altitude. MSSR has a longer range of 200 nautical miles.