Fog: Govt mulls amending aviation rules

Government is considering amending Civil Aviation rules to make it mandatory to have category II instrument landing system at all airports across the country to reduce fog-related problems.

Stating this in Lok Sabha during Question Hour, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said such a step would encourage all airlines to train pilots till the CAT-II level.

He said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation proposed to amend the civil aviation requirements making it mandatory for all pilots to be trained at least till the CAT-II level.

"While we want to reduce fog-related inconvenience caused to passengers, we cannot ignore safety at any cost," Patel said, adding the only Indian airport which had the highest CAT-III

B facilities was the one in Delhi.

He announced government's intention to upgrade four to five airports in the northern region, which are generally affected by fog during winter, to the CAT-II level.

These include Amritsar, Lucknow and Jaipur Patel said CAT-II or CAT-III training for pilots required them to first fulfil conditions of flying a minimum of 2,000 hours, 500 hours for particular types of high-technology aircraft and a minimum number of take-offs and landings.

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