An emergency signal started coming simultaneously at the Search and Rescue Coordination Center located in Delhi, Guwahati, Kolkata around 11 am. This signal was coming from Nepal. Five Search and Rescue Coordination Centers of our country received emergency signals emanating from the Yeti Airlines plane that crashed in Pokhara on Sunday. These signals were automatically coming from the Emergency Location Transmitter (LET) of the aircraft. Lucknow and Varanasi ATC also got such messages. This arrangement is done so that if a plane crashes in a remote area, there is no problem in finding its location.
India has one of the best systems in the world for monitoring aircraft. India not only has five centers for ELT signal but also has the facility to locate the aircraft through satellite. Air Traffic Controllers Guild General Secretary Alok Yadav said that every aircraft must have a black box and an ELT box. The black box records the entire activities of that flight, the conversation of the pilot. At the same time, the ELT i.e. Emergency Location Transmitter gets activated as soon as the plane gets a strong jolt. It immediately starts sending the signal of the aircraft on a particular frequency. The Search and Rescue Coordination Centers located in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Guwahati in their country inform the nearest ATC as soon as these signals are received. From this it is known that which plane has disappeared a few days back from their contact. After being detected, the administration and disaster department of the concerned district are informed along with the exact location.
ATC reach within Nepal border
Indian Air Traffic Control has a reach of 60 to 70 kms within Nepal’s border. Lucknow-Varanasi ATC has helped 40 aircraft in bad weather in last one year. When the Kathmandu ATC informs that the weather is bad there, the Lucknow ATC becomes active.
Low fuel while circling over Kathmandu
An ATC controller said that the weather in Kathmandu turned bad in November. One plane made about six rounds. When the fuel started running out, the pilot got worried. In such a situation, ATC Kathmandu airport sent him towards Lucknow. Lucknow and Jaipur airports have expertise in landing safely while keeping the aircraft at the right height in bad weather. Even before the fuel of the aircraft ran out, it was landed in Lucknow. Also it was given the optimum altitude so that unnecessary fuel was not spent. In November, maximum number of flights to Kathmandu were diverted on 19th and 17th. Apart from this, many flights were diverted on 6 September as well.