Oped»
No noise is good noise
AUG 11 -
Nepal Tourism Year 2011 is just around the corner and hopefully all, especially those involved in the tourism business, will give their best to make it successful. That will be possible only if bureaucrats and ultimately politicians, who have the final decision making powers, do not make a mess of it by pushing unrealistic policies. Visit Nepal Year 1998 did not achieve much, and hopefully this one will do better due to positive tourist inflow trends and the lessons learnt.
But tourism, as a whole, is so very jittery that one negative publicity will be enough to dash most hopes. It does not take anything bigger than a firecracker to force birds out of their perch amidst noisy mayhem. It will be no different when tourists, already in, set a panicky exodus. Given the state of politics and the existing level of “non-governance”, there are plenty of things that could go awfully wrong. The stability on the political front and re-establishment of the rule of law would have made a positive impact all round, but alas, that was not to be. We have become an interesting case for those wanting to learn how an exotic and peaceful country can progressively hurt itself and sink deeper into a black hole of total disorder.
It is a pity that infrastructure was wantonly destroyed during the 10-year insurgency. And we have an “urban planner” turned leader who believes in destruction of all old structures first before new ones are built. He made it sound so simple that it required nothing more than a whip of the wand. Such naive thoughts coming out of the head of a planner was more ominous than godly. Even god must have taken quite some time to build all this, but he is only human! Preaching was the least of my intentions, but I could not help speaking out my mind especially because of having a similar sort of educational background.
This piece was prompted by recent news items which linked TIA with NTY. Through them we learnt that TIA (a) had commissioned one more parking bay and four more were planned, (b) is in no position to take any additional flights during the day time (10.00-17.00 hrs) and airlines would be allowed to operate during off peak hours if they want, (c) is only capable of handling 750 (pax/hr) against about 3,500 currently, hence the chaos, (d) will eventually operate round the clock (7/24) following radar repair and finally (e) will have no traffic problems thereafter!
It would have been a great piece of news if the situation had been reversed with “four” bays completed with “one” remaining to be done! Given the state of preparedness, we wonder whether the two programmes were ever coordinated. The second item (b) would have been there if the additional parking bays were operational. As for the third, it is our excellent level of “incompetence” primarily at the political level and to a lesser extent on the technical front that we always load our systems far in excess of their capacity. Just look at the realities of water and electricity supplies as new clients get connected to the network which guarantees nothing but a deteriorating level of service everyday! The airport is relatively better off; it is only overloaded by about 466 percent and that too only during peak hours!
This scribe was more concerned by the remaining last two items (d) and (e). Have we become so damn busy that we need to keep the airport open for 24 hours? Many developed countries still maintain a night curfew for aircraft movement primarily to restrict aircraft noise. Permission for night flights comes tagged with the “noise abatement procedures” (NAP) catch! Kathmandu is in a far worse position as the airport is located right at the valley’s centre.
An airport ideally needs a big city in its vicinity to run effectively. If airports are located further off, there will be a need for a reliable and fast surface transportation system such that passengers do not feel the distance. The imaginary “fast track” connection between Kathmandu and Nijgadh is primarily based on that requirement. But a grave doubt remains whether these, the track and the airport, will ever get built. What do we do in the mean time, operate TIA, an airport which is literally within the city, 24 hours round the year? As it is, frequent aircraft noise is getting intolerably high along the takeoff path during the day time. Now under the pretext of NTY, are they really planning to make it unbearable for people during the night hours as well?
Kathmandu had a small airport during the period when aircraft no bigger than Dakotas ruled the skies. The situation deteriorated with the arrival of bigger jets, and got worse, noise-wise, as the frequency of flights increased. Unrestricted night-time operation will create far too many problems contrary to the official belief that it will solve “their” traffic problem!
Talking about aircraft noise, it has become urgently necessary to review the daytime departure procedures as well. We cannot continue with the practice of letting thundering aircraft come freely over the city core any longer. And why do aircraft taking off follow procedures that require turning west that brings them roaring over the core of Patan every time? Why are the “east turn” alternatives not practiced at all? CAAN officials will surely be getting more than an earful if they do nothing to alleviate the noise situation. For the time being, short-term measure like enforcing noise abatement procedures during the day is also a possibility. But this scribe would not be surprised if TIA had any such procedures in place for night flights—let alone for the daytime!
Further, in the long-term, the existing departure procedures (technically known as SIDs) have to be thoroughly reviewed to address the noise issue. It may, at the extreme, entail laying totally new procedures. These are bound to be not as simple given the twin needs of keeping away from the hills around and densely populated areas unlike at present. It is quite likely that strong views will be forthcoming against this proposal. We should keep our minds open and check for all acceptable alternatives.
Whoever could have imagined, before 1970, that night-time jet flights from Kathmandu would be possible. The procedure was pioneered by RA B727 aviators, more out of compulsion to keep the only RA jet flying. This has now become a fait accompli as most airlines use it without question. The clock has turned full circle as we are now speaking in favour of imposing a night-time curfew. But there is an interesting exception to the night-time flights. Indian registered airlines are banned by the Indian Civil Aviation Department against using TIA after daylight hours. Possibly they wanted to contribute in their own way by letting us have a peaceful night!
(The author is general manager in a German-Nepal joint venture company and has an active interest in aviation)
harjyal@yahoo.com
Posted on: 2010-08-12 08:07
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