Pilots fear rain effect,feel planes skid on runways

“A critical safety concern at airports is the runway surface condition. Water and rubber deposits can make the runway slippery,causing loss of control during braking. It also makes surface movements hazardous,” states the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Research & Development branch on runway safety.

The fact that Mumbai’s cross-runways are considered sub-standard by many airlines and pilots is well known. “A critical point is the fact that there is little awareness on the issue and only the pilots face the brunt,” said an Air India pilot. “After touchdown,till the aircraft comes to almost a standstill,we use only automatic brakes or else the plane would easily overshoot the runway,” he added.

But senior MIAL officials,on condition of anonymity,bluntly say that there was hardly any proper upkeep of the airport’s runways under the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

“We need to maintain a certain level of friction on the runways and that is why the runways are closed for maintenance work every week,” said the MIAL spokesperson.

“As years go by,the need for maintenance of the runways also increases,” he added.

MIAL is presently undertaking a major overhauling work of the airport’s secondary runway — the 9,596 feet long runway which,officials say,is often waterlogged at its end. Also,according to the spokesperson,major reconstruction of the airport’s main runway is also in the pipeline,although the exact dates are still to be worked out.

Incidentally,there is no references on runway safety measures whatsoever on the website of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) — India’s premier regulatory body in the field of Civil Aviation that deals primarily with safety issues.