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NAIA Radar Knocked-Off By Typhoon

19 September 2014

Flights at Ninoy Aquino International Airport went haywire early this morning after its radar was knocked down by torrential rains causing disruptions of flights in and out of Manila.

The radar facility in Manila went off around 3:50am after heavy downpour was reported at the airport premises. Affected flights were China Eastern arriving from Shanghai which was diverted to Cebu, and Jetstar Asia from Singapore which was diverted to Clark after reporting poor visibility of runway which also aggravated conditions at the airport. The lists is not exhaustive. PAL flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles managed to land the plane before radar went off.

CAAP said NAIA runways are available only using Area Navigation (RNAV) operations which require greater flight separations between landing and departing aircraft, strict pilot awareness and maintenance of the procedure center-lines as airport controllers are blind as to the exact whereabouts of aircraft which cause limited communication between tower, approach, and the pilots.

Manila Airspace restrictions includes curtailment of aircraft movements in the air limiting number of aircraft movements under ATC control to 11 arrivals and 11 departures per hour from the usual 30 to 35 flights. General aviation (Gen-Av) flights is likewise suspended from using NAIA complex other than flight emergency.

Immigration system at NAIA also went off line last night causing long queues at the airport before it was brought online 3 hours later. Please standby for more updates when they become available.

Radar facility is expected to be repaired by 12noon, but bad weather is hampering repair works.


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