Bhubaneswar airport to get automated weather observation system soon

Bhubaneswar: To overcome hassles in flight operations due to poor visibility especially in winter days, the Biju Patnaik International Airport authorities have decided to install an automated weather observation system (AWOS) on the runway.

The new system will augment safety during landing of international flights especially Boeing and Airbus planes on the city airport runway.

Suresh Chandra Hota, director of the airport, informed, “At present weather conditions and visibility on the runway are being recorded manually. This manual system will be replaced by an AWOS soon to get more accurate data,” adding that the airport will become more hi-tech with this addition.

Sarat Chandra Sahu, director of the Regional Meteorological Centre, said, “During fog condition, met officials usually go to the runway in a vehicle and measure the visibility. However, this new system will record runway visibility range and aviation weather system including pressure, temperature and wind direction automatically.”

Due to the present manual system, flights are being diverted from the Bhubaneswar airport in case of poor visibility in winter.

Raj Mohapatra, a Pilot, said, “The AWOS is the latest version of ATS. In winters, normally poor visibility becomes a challenge for a pilot. But this new system will give accurate data to pilot during landing.”