I hope I am not alone who suffers from aviophobia---fear of flying---an experience that frightens you to death when as a passenger you try your best to be oblivious to what is happening around for a few minutes as your aircraft taxis on the runway at accelerated pace and takes off to sky on its gradual ascent to a particular height specified by the relevant Air Traffic Controller.
Earlier, my feelings in those fleeting moments of an aircraft taking off or touching down were of terrible frights; of late, after viewing a number of TV documentaries on notable crashes of commercial aircrafts I am afraid I have developed phobia---a serious term in psychiatry connoting a health problem that debilitates a person's life---to air journey. I try my level best to avoid my travels by an aircraft if there is an alternative mode available.
But after reading news that "our Zia International Airport would be radar-less if a new radar does not replace within a year the old one, installed in 1984 and now obsolescent, which underwent major repairs and is now functioning with one part of the radar fully out of order", I do not think I can marshal enough mental strength to step onto our airport anytime soon.
Moreover, the existing taxiway of the airport, which was constructed in 1979, now evaluated as of PCN (Pavement Classification Number) 40, is too hazardous for operations of wide-bodied aircraft like DC-10 or Boing-747 which requires a taxiway of at least PCN 70, as per requirement of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation), a world body that codifies the standards of safe international air navigation.
Nevertheless, our civil aviation adviser deserves salutation for his letter to our finance adviser urging implementation of the US$ 52 million 'Upgrading of Zia International Airport' project that envisages installation of modern navigational equipment including a new sophisticated radar system and strengthening of the taxiway to world standard as immediately as possible.
If we visualise, in retrospect, those horrible scenes of air crashes like those of Zeppelin Hindenburg in 1937 in flames, KLM Flight 4805 and Pam Am Flight 1736 colliding in 1977 killing 538 people and the giant Concorde aircraft of Air France Flight 4590 crashing immediately after takeoff from Paris and killing all aboard we will realise how urgent is our job to streamline our airport to make journeys to and from ZIA safe and sound.
Maswood Alam Khan
General Manager
Bangladesh Krishi Bank
maswoodalamkhan@gmail.com
Modernizing ZIA airport
FE Team | Published: September 05, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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