Among five
airports in the country having
tabletop runways, Mizoram’s
Lengpui airport is safe for landing of passenger aircraft like
Airbus A320 and mid-size cargo planes, an official said. The
official’s assertion came in
the backdrop of an Air India
plane crashing at Keralas
Kozhikode airport, killing at
least 18 people Friday.
J Lalhmingliana, Principal
Consultant in the Civil Aviation wing of the General
Administration department,
told PTI that the runway
having 2,500 metres length and
whose breadth is 45 metres,
has enough space and is strong
enough for safe landing.
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| Mizoram’s Lengpui airport safe for landing |
Lengpui airport, the lone
one in Mizoram, is located
about 32 km northwest of capital Aizawl.
Four airports having tabletop runways at Kozhikode,
Mangalore (Karnakata), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) and Pakyong (Sikkim) are operated by the Airports Authority of
India (AAI), while the Mizoram’s Lengpui airport is with
the state government.
Tabletop runways are constructed on hilly or elevated terrains. Also, there could be low
lying areas adjacent to such runways and there could be gorges
at the end of such runways.
Lalhmingliana said that the
airport has almost all the required safety features like Instrument Landing System
(ISL), runway lights and Doppler Very High Frequency Omni
Range (DVOR), among others.
He said that the two-decadeold airport is fit for landing of
passenger aircraft like Airbus
A320 carrying 190 to 200 passengers and cargo planes and
transport aircraft like C-17
Globemaster, Il-76 and super
hercules, among others.
“Unless there is human error,
plane crash and other accidents
are unlikely to happen,” he
said. He said that the airport had witnessed a minor incident 10 years ago,
when a charter airlineNorth East Shuttle- carrying around 15 passengers fell off to not so a deep
gorge due to wrong landing by an inexperienced
pilot.
However, there were no
casualties, he added.
Lalhmingliana said that the
runway of the airport is normal though it has been classified as tabletop. According to
the official, renovation and extension of the airport- its building and terminal- is in progress
during Covid-19 period. He
said two airlines-Air India and
IndiGo are currently operating from the airport. – PTI
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