Sandstorm brings challenge to air traffic control

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Sandstorm brings challenge to air traffic control

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The serious sandstorm that started March 26 has delayed more than 1,200 flights across the country, according to the latest information from the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC).

The sandstorm, with visibility in some places falling to 100 meters (330 feet), has affected approximately 70 million people in11 northern and western provinces and autonomous regions.

Beijing Capital Airport, which saw more than 150 delayed flights, was crowded with disgruntled passengers in the past days,many of whom were very angry about the unexpected disorder.

The serious delay caused many complaints to the air traffic control departments from passengers, who said they should take some preventive measures to reduce the disorder.

"It took me four hours to get from Wuhan to Beijing, which usually takes less than two hours. Now I have to wait for the nextflight to my hometown to see my sick father, but nobody knows the exact departure time," Wang Weiming told the reporter at the Beijing Capital Airport on the evening of March 29.

Because he knew the coming sandstorm might affect his flight, Li Zhigang brought his ticket after he was ensured the flight would not be changed. But when he arrived at the airport he found his flight was canceled because of the serious sandstorms.

"The weather forecast had predicted the sandstorm four days ago,so why didn't the air traffic control departments modify the flight plan before it came?" asked Li.

The air companies also expressed their complaints about the disorder. "We lose 600 yuan (72.3 US dollars) per minute if the plane have to wait in the air," said a manager of China's Eastern Airlines.

Because most planes have special advanced equipment to take offand land in very low visibility, common bad weather like fog, rainand snow can not badly disturb the flights. But the sandstorm withits gales can seriously threaten the flight's safety, so the scheduled flights become irregular.

But the weather forecast can not tell the exact scale of winds at the airport in the exact time, and any change of scheduled flights will involve airlines, airports and air control departments, so it is very difficult to change scheduled flights just according to the forecast of the atrocious weather, said Sun Xiaoyi, manager of the Beijing Capital Airport.

A special system of monitoring and forecasting sandstorms around Beijing is in trial operation. The system can forecast the sandstorm four days ahead and provide more exact details on the ongoing sandstorms, sources with the Beijing Meteorologic Station said.

With the more exact weather forecast, it is possible to make some changes in the flight plan according to the weather forecast in the future, said Sun.

Source: Xinhua

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