Every year during the winter season, many flights are canceled due to dense fog. At present North India is in the grip of dense fog. Due to this, domestic and international flights are being canceled or their timings are being changed. Low visibility caused by dense fog is challenging even for the most experienced pilots and extremely dangerous for less skilled pilots.
Taxing would have been challenging
The decision to cancel flights due to dense fog is taken for the safety of passengers. In fact, fog not only causes problems in flight but also affects airport operations a lot. Because of this there is difficulty in establishing communication. Experts say that the biggest problem during fog is not the take-off or landing but the taxiing of the flight on the runway (when the plane moves on the runway).
Flight is allowed only after minimum visibility standards are met
When the aircraft successfully lands on the runway, it is necessary to evaluate the visibility again. All types of aircraft and airports have minimum visibility requirements for takeoff, which may vary at different points on the runway. When the aircraft meets all the minimum visibility standards, then it is given permission to fly. Even after this, until one aircraft covers a certain distance in the air, the other aircraft is not brought to the holding point.
Minimum visibility would have been 550 meters
Landing of flights during low visibility procedures (LVP) is also challenging. According to the standards, the minimum visibility required for landing is 550 meters. For this reason the pilot has to resort to auto pilot for landing. At present visibility is less than 100 in many cities of North India including Delhi. At airports where visibility is low due to dense fog, Instrument Landing System (ILS) is required to land the flight, so that communication can be established with the aircraft.
