Kolkata ATC lost link with 85 aircrafts for 10 minutes and we skipped a heartbeat
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Thirty five controllers scrambled for mobile phones as radars and vital VHF radio link failure continued for 1 hour 40 minutes. The screens that display positions of aircraft in Kolkata air traffic region went blank.
"What happened is a controller's nightmare. Even landlines were not working. But, we managed to contact Nagpur and Varanasi ATC to relay information to pilots," a controller said.
The controllers then switched to the emergency protocol and turned to the very high-frequency communication sets to contact airborne pilots.
There were around 85 planes in the ATR and controllers had no control over 30.
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The incident started at 7.35 am and the BSNL-maintained link was restored at 9.15am.
The incident will be probed by Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India.
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