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"Yellow" Alert For
Central And South
Pacific Areas
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Airport Manager Offers
No Solution To Broken
Lights
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Airport Manager Offers
No Solution To Broken
Lights
Since 2004, the lights
guiding airlines into
the Juan Santamaría (San
José) International
airport have been broken
and on foggy nights
flights are diverted to
Nicaragua and Panama, an
inconvenience to
travellers as well as
the airlines.
The airport manager,
Alterra Partners, has
yet to offer a solution
to the problem for the
installation of an
"Approach Lighting
System (ALS)" .
The current lights are
too old to repair and
funds to install a new
system have yet to be
earmarked. In addition,
the Aviación Civíl
(Civil Aviation
authority) has yet to
complete the
expropriation of lands,
mainly farmland, at the
end of the runway that
is required to install a
new lighting system.
Viviama Martín,
vice-president of the
Ministerio de Obras
Públicas y Transportes (MOPT)
and president of
Aviación Civíl, says the
work should have been
carried out years ago,
and the land purchase
negotiated immediately
instead of the ongoing
negotiations with the
land owners.
Martín attributes a
misunderstanding between
the land owners and
Aviación Civíl officials
to the three year delay.
The lack of the lighting
system means that planes
won't land at San José
in dense fog not wanting
to take a chance.
The lack of lighting
does severely affect
passenger convenience
when a two and half hour
trip from Miami lands at
Juan Santamaría the next
day, after spending a
night in either
Nicaragua or Panama.
Some flights are
temporarily detoured to
the Liberia airport,
waiting around for hours
on the fog to lift and
then off to Panama when
it appears that it
won't.
In some instances,
flights have been
cancelled when the fog
comes in early enough
before the flights
leaves the gate in the
originating city.
However, that is not an
option once the fog
rolls in after the
flight has taken off.
The situation also
affects the economy of
the airlines which incur
added costs and changes
in their schedules and
unsatisfied customers.
Passengers commonly
blame the airlines for
their travel setbacks.
Diverted flights have
rippling effects that
also affect local hotels
losing a nights visit
and business meetings to
be rescheduled.
During the month of
June, 10 flights were
cancelled and 59
diverted to other
airports due to poor
visibility and lack of
lights to guide the
planes in in heavy fog.
When installed, the Approach Lighting System assists the pilot
in transitioning from instrument to visual
flight, and to align the aircraft visually with
the runway centreline.
The flashing sequenced strobe leads towards the runway and is nicknamed
"the rabbit." Pilots break out of the clouds and
announce to the tower, "I have the rabbit."
Without the ALS, a pilot, in heavy fog, cannot
line up the aircraft with the runway properly. |
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Approach Lighting System (ALS).
An approach lighting system,is a lighting system
installed on the approach end of an airport
runway and consists of a series of lightbars,
strobe lights, or a combination of the two that
extends outward from the runway end.
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