Day temperature rarefies air at Leh airport, results in flight cancellations
Poor oxygen level at a high altitude site like Leh, compounded by the heat wave, poses a challenge to the engines to generate lift-off force
For the second day on Tuesday flights were cancelled at the Kushok Bakula Rinpoche Airport in Ladakh’s Leh district due to rarefied air induced by heat waves.
“Due to ongoing weather conditions in Leh today, four flights (three IndiGo and one SpiceJet) have been cancelled at the Leh Airport (on Tuesday),” a spokesman of the Airport Authorities of India (AAI), Leh, said.
The cancellation of flights started on Monday after the day temperature touched 36 degrees Celsius and caused further rarefaction of air. Ladakh, because of its altitude, has very thin air.
Officials said the length of runway, which is 2.7 km, was inadequate for the engines of the planes to take off from the airport and overcome the thin air.
The Leh airport is at an altitude of around 10,700 feet. Poor oxygen level at such a high altitude compounded by the heat wave poses a challenge to the engines to generate lift-off force on the length of the runway. Officials said it requires a more than 3.5 km length runway to allow engines to generate lift-off force and take off and land without any difficulty.
Read Comments
- Copy link
- Telegram
READ LATER
Remove
SEE ALL
PRINT
Related Topics
Ladakh
/
weather news
/
heatwave