THE East London airport is busy replacing its damaged glide slope equipment, which resulted in South African Airways cancelling flights on Sunday in the rainy weather .
It is part of the instrument landing system, which is a ground-based device that helps to guide landing aircraft to maintain a correct approach angle.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, airport manager Michael Kernerkamp said they suspected water had contributed to damaging the glide slope equipment.
In addition to the bad weather he said coastal airports were affected by the salty sea air and the life span of the instrument landing system.
“The instrument landing system that we have in place at the moment is eight years old and has a life span of 10 years. However, the fact that it failed yesterday tells us that it has reached the end of its life span,” Kernerkamp said.
The new replacement costs R16- million.
“It is actually ironic or a strange case that it failed yesterday because today we were planning on switching it off. This was scheduled to take place months ago.
“It is unfortunate that it failed a day before,” added Kernerkamp.
He said there would be no instrument landing as the one side of the glide slope was switched off yesterday .
Kernerkamp urged customers to bear with the airport as the replacement process could take up to six weeks.
“It’s a necessary replacement. Our customers need to bear with us until it is replaced. Once it’s replaced it will be good for another 10 years and we’ll be able to provide reliable services,” Kernerkamp said.
He added that if there was bad weather during the replacement process, there could be diversions or even cancellations as there was no backup system in place. —
EL flights affected by equipment
It is part of the instrument landing system, which is a ground-based device that helps to guide landing aircraft to maintain a correct approach angle.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, airport manager Michael Kernerkamp said they suspected water had contributed to damaging the glide slope equipment.
In addition to the bad weather he said coastal airports were affected by the salty sea air and the life span of the instrument landing system.
“The instrument landing system that we have in place at the moment is eight years old and has a life span of 10 years. However, the fact that it failed yesterday tells us that it has reached the end of its life span,” Kernerkamp said.
The new replacement costs R16- million.
“It is actually ironic or a strange case that it failed yesterday because today we were planning on switching it off. This was scheduled to take place months ago.
“It is unfortunate that it failed a day before,” added Kernerkamp.
He said there would be no instrument landing as the one side of the glide slope was switched off yesterday .
Kernerkamp urged customers to bear with the airport as the replacement process could take up to six weeks.
“It’s a necessary replacement. Our customers need to bear with us until it is replaced. Once it’s replaced it will be good for another 10 years and we’ll be able to provide reliable services,” Kernerkamp said.
He added that if there was bad weather during the replacement process, there could be diversions or even cancellations as there was no backup system in place. —
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