As the fog clears...

The fog at Delhi Airport, created enough and more problems for me and I am sure the rest of us, who were stuck there in Delhi Airport during those fateful days. But does that mean that a naturally recurring phenomenon like fog can hold the capital to a standstill? Wont businessmen, tourists and other people be held ransom to the fog? Can airlines like Deccan, Spice and other just cancel the flights and throw carefully prepared Xmas and New Year plans out of the window for thousands of people.

Well the answer is a big NO. There were solutions to the ongoing problem at Delhi or for that matter any airport in India having trouble with fog. If only a select few pilots of our own private airlines be trained in a technology called Instrument Landing System (ILS), our pilots would be capable of landing in fog and unclear conditions. Only the Indian Airlines has taken the pain to train a good number of their pilots, why wouldn’t they do that, money is being paid by our government. The training is a costly one, as it comes at a price of 10 Lakhs per pilot. Well this is an investment that the private airlines don’t want to take as they are scared that once the pilot is trained in that, then the other airlines will poach him/her.

Well if you are a no frills airline like Deccan, then I am sure they will not invest in equipping their pilots and rather cancel flights left right and center. I think it is left to the Govt. of India to make it compulsory that, you have to train atleast 5 pilots per airline so that the poaching part which is very common in the airline industry doesn’t happen.

Train your pilots or do not fly the Delhi route during December – January. It is better to stay at home and not plan a trip, than plan and spoil the fun.

~sujith