The air traffic control at the Calcutta airport observed a minute’s silence on Sunday in memory of their counterparts in the Myanmar capital killed in Friday’s earthquake.

The ATC tower at Naypyitaw International Airport got uprooted from its base and collapsed during the 7.7 magnitude quake that killed thousands in Myanmar and Thailand. Four ATC personnel were among those killed.

Among those killed in the tower collapse are Lay Aung, general manager of ATC; and women personnel Thaw Thaw Htet Ko Ko, assistant manager; Honey Run, ATC officer 2; and Naing Naing Maw, ATC officer 2.

“We observed one minute’s silence in our ATC tower on Sunday morning to show solidarity and pay homage. We were shocked to learn of the death of our ATC counterparts in Myanmar,” said an ATC official.

“On Monday, we informed our Yangon ATC counterparts about the homage,” he said.

Yangon ATC in Myanmar is adjacent to Calcutta’s and the two “hand over” communication, navigation and surveillance controls of flights to each other daily.

“We speak over the telephone several times a day with Yangon ATC. Calcutta ATC’s most communications are with Yangon because of the sheer volume of flights through that region,” said the official.

“The deaths of these ATC officials shocked us. We are deeply affected,” he said.

All flights taking off from Calcutta or flying above the city to places like Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China are initially guided by Calcutta ATC.

“Then, Calcutta ATC hands over the communication, navigation and surveillance of all these flights to the Yangon ATC. In the opposite direction, Yangon ATC hands over the flights to us,” said a Calcutta ATC official.

There are around 1,000 flights that the two ATCs hand over to each other.

The two airports are more than 1,000km apart.

Calcutta’s ATC also shares similar arrangements with ATCs of Dhaka, Delhi, Nagpur and Chennai.

Yangon ATC, though not physically affected by the earthquake, had technical
issues.

The lateral separation between two flights mid-air between Calcutta and Yangon is kept at 10 minutes. But because of the technical problems at Yangon, the separation was increased to 15 minutes, said ATC sources.

Since Monday afternoon, the normal 10-minute gap had been restored, they said.

A pilot who frequently operates flights from Calcutta to Yangon and Bangkok, and has to communicate with the Myanmar ATC personnel, said “they are very helpful”.

“Whenever I request clearance to climb up to a higher altitude for smoother flying and less fuel consumption, the Yangon ATC obliges. Other ATCs say they would allow the climb, but often do not,” said the pilot.

However, he said has difficulties following some of the verbal communications. “Sometimes I have trouble understanding their accent. Then, I ask them to say it slowly a second time,” he said.