Airports Authority of India

Mission :  ''To achieve highest standards of safety and quality in air traffic services and airport management by providing state-of-the-art infrastructure for total customer satisfaction, contributing to economic growth and prosperity of the nation.''                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Vision :  ''To be a world-class organization providing leadership in air traffic services and airport management & making India a major hub in Asia Pacific region by 2016''.
Flight Inspection / Calibration

 

FLIGHT INSPECTION UNIT,
AIRPORTS AUTHORITY OF INDIA
(ISO 9001:2008 Certified )

Flight Inspection Unit (FIU) was carved out of the "Radio Development Unit" of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India in 1986. It is now an ISO 9001:2008 certified unit of Airports Authority of India (AAI) since Feb'2007 (ISO 9001:2000) which carries out Flight testing of Radio Nav aids and associated facilities.

The Radio Development Unit of DGCA has a long history of starting flight testing in 1959 with the help of Flight Inspection System (FIS) installed in Dakota aircraft from Allahabad, India. The Flight Inspection system (FIS) was integrated using independent receivers, ink pen recorders, signal generators etc. It was a fully manual system. For positional information, manual tracking of aircraft using optical theodolites and positional event markers using VHF tones were used.

Later, FIU base was shifted to Delhi and the system was replaced by flight inspection system from M/s Sierra Research Corporation, USA installed in HS-748 AVRO aircraft. This system was again manual type but had RTT link for continuous positional information in the aircraft.

During 1986-87, the fleet of HS-748 aircrafts was replaced by Dornier DO-228 aircrafts. Sierra FIS was also replaced with Semi Automatic FIS supplied by M/s


Normarc, Norway. This started the new era of computerized system of Data collection and analysis in the field of Flight Testing. It was possible for the system to give calculated results of required parameters after an exercise. The system was automated using a laser based Auto-tracker for reducing the manual error involved in the manual tracking. Bubble memory cassettes were used for Data archival and data transfer. It was capable of carrying out flight testing of ILS Cat II.


Airports Authority of India's flight testing capability was further enhanced with the acquisition of Fully Automatic Flight Inspection System-AFIS-200 from M/s Aerodata, Germany, in 2004. This system uses GPS technology extensively and is capable of being used under inclement weather condition and visibility. This is a state of the art system, fully computerized and capable of flight testing Cat-III ILS. It is also capable of meeting flight testing requirements of modern systems like SBAS, RNAV procedures, ADS-B etc. It is capable of flight testing of ILS using a single position for ground equipment and in a single run it can simultaneously evaluate multiple facilities thereby saving precious flying efforts. Independent dual receiver configuration of the system ensures very high integrity and repeatability of the testing/calibration results.


AFIS-200 system uses P-DGPS Position reference system which works on Differential GPS principle. It uses unique algorithm combining other sensors from the aircraft to give centimeter level accuracy under dynamic condition. For Position Reference system, ground survey data of the concerned facilities are required to be put in the system database. This unit has the capability of carrying out the required "Ground survey" using Rascal ground survey kit with Dual frequency GPS receivers. Additionally, fully automatic Laser Tracker is also used for giving independent and accurate position of the aircraft while doing ILS approaches.

The AFIS-200 system is installed in two Dornier DO-228 aircrafts and one B-300 Beech Craft (King Air) aircraft. The FIU team consists of qualified, proficient and experienced Flight Inspectors headed by an Executive Director.

The 54 ILSs & 86 VORs (inclusive of both CVOR & DVOR) are Flight tested at regular intervals as per AAI guidelines. AAI in general follows ICAO requirements in the evaluation of Flight Testing results. Commissioning checks are carried out by FIU before operationalising a newly installed facility. This is followed by Periodic flight tests. The system is capable of carrying out the flight testing of following facilities :

  1. ILS up to Cat-III 
  2. VOR (CVOR/DVOR)
  3. DME
  4. NDB
  5. VGSI (PAPI,VASI)
  6. RADAR(ASR/MSSR)
  7. SBAS
  8. ADS-B
  9. RNAV Procedures


AAI also undertakes flight calibration/inspection of ground aids at Air force, Navy, Coast Guard and other private Airfields in India.

Ever since inception of FIU, flight inspection of Nav-aids in neighboring countries like Vietnam, Laos, Nepal, Maldives, Bangladesh & Bhutan have been carried out on a number of occasion under bilateral agreement.

FIU has a full fledged ground Calibration Laboratory wherein various test equipment and test benches are available for calibration of receivers, for data archival, post flight data analysis, fault finding and maintenance activities.

FIU can be approached for flight testing of relevant facilities. The rates will be provided on demand.

 Contact:
Executive Director (RCDU & FIU),
Flight Inspection Unit, Airports Authority of India.
Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi – 110003.
Ph :   91-11-24611077
Fax : 91-11-24619701
Email :  ed_rcdu_fiu@aai.aero


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Last updated on: 10th  September 2010