Bhubaneswar: A Puja pandal with a height of nearly 60-feet in the immediate vicinity of the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar has posed potential risks to flights during take-off and landing.
The Puja pandal has been erected just 200 metres from the west dumbbell of the main runway in the glide path of the BPIA, according to noted historian and conservationist Anil Dhir, who is also a trained pilot.
He said the pandal is located around 150 meters from the airport boundary and less than 100 metres from where the airplanes make their final descent on to the runway. In fact, the landing planes are on the same level as the height of the pandal, he said.
Dhir has written to the BPIA Director stating that the pandal poses a serious aviation hazard as it has been erected in the most vulnerable part of the funnel zone of the Airport.
“Not just the structural height violation, but the accompanying intrusive laser and strobe lights which will be put up and the massive traffic bottlenecks will endanger flight movement along this critical airport approach zone,” said Dhir.
He further raised concern over the possible use of drones at the Puja pandal.
“Operating unauthorized drones in close proximity to the airport will pose a high risk of mid-air collision with aircraft or ingestion into jet engines. The most critical risk is temporary pilot blindness, which occurs when powerful light beams strike a descending aircraft’s windshield during the vulnerable landing phase. The high-intensity laser beams can enter a cockpit, scatter across the windshield, and cause immediate, temporary blindness or blurred vision,” he said.
Dhir has urged the Airport authorities to advise the organisers to reduce the height of the pandal and refrain from using laser lights and drones during the festival.
