The majority of the Air Safety experts and all experienced pilots in Sri Lanka say that the potentially hazardous concrete wall at the Galle Road end of the Colombo International Airport Ratmalana should be removed and replaced with a fence capable of arresting an over running aircraft, if necessary. When the possible hazards were highlighted to the three ‘owners’ of the said wall, it was the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) that declared first that as there was no war situation at present, that they had no objection for its replacement with a fence. This was stated by none other than the present Commander of the Air Force himself as representative of the SLAF at the Policy Development Office (PDO) at the Prime Minister’s Office at Temple Trees. Regrettably, the Civil Aviation Authority was procrastinating at that time.
It was then that the Aircraft Owners And Operators Association (AOAOA) appealed to the new Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority Sri Lanka (DGCAASL), Capt Themiya Abeywickrema to remove the hazardous wall. The DGCAASL informed the AOAOA in writing that had no objection for the removal. The Association approached the new Chairman of Airport and Aviation Sri Lanka (AASL) Major General (Rtd) G A Chandrasiri who was very supportive along with the Chief Airport Manager, Aruna Rajapaksha, Colombo International Airport, Ratmalana, and had no objection for the removal and replacement of the wall, but presumably for courtesies’ sake, they wrote to the MOD, seeking their views. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has ‘strongly recommended’ that the wall should not be removed for two reasons. (1) Due to VVIP/ VIP Squadrons being located close to the wall. (2) That an absence of a solid structure before the Galle Road will create greater collateral damage to vehicular traffic. It should be noted that although it was only a recommendation, by the MOD, it literally threw a spanner in the works. The question is, who could be held accountable if there is a fatal accident by impact on the said wall? When the two major air accidents occurred in Sri Lankan airspace, no heads rolled. The pilots were blamed. Dead cannot defend themselves!
The AOAOA maintains that
(1) The said wall is a significant obstacle in the Take-off and Landing path which is a risk to all operating aircraft and passengers. The VIP/ VVIP Squadron hangars are nowhere close to the said wall. The individual hangar security of the SLAF could be beefed up near the VVIP/ VIP areas to the required standards if necessary, when the wall is removed and replaced by a fence.
(2) No airport (except some places in India) has a solid structure to prevent (and destroy) aircraft overrunning the Runway. (See photo, of the Moorabin Airport, Melbourne, Australia). Some of the walled airports in India in fact have caused death and destruction, during the last few years. The industrial norm is to have a frangible (breaking on impact) fence (like in the photo )
So the AOAOA after a long and arduous campaign was back to square one. Subsequently, the advertiser’s contract for the hoardings on this wall had lapsed and the SLAF who was the sole financial beneficiary, is now requesting permission to renew the same. The annual earnings from these hoardings run into millions of Rupees. With the adverts comes a line of non–standard, bright lights along the wall, to illuminate their hoardings at night, close to the Runway threshold, which could certainly create a distraction for pilots approaching the Ratmalana Runway by night. However, in contrast when residents down the New Airport Road requested for introduction of street lighting to improve security, a few years back, they were curtly told by the Airport Authorities that installation street lights were not possible. Presently the road is pitch dark at night. The reason given was that it would distract the pilots of approaching aircraft at night! As far as this writer knows, no practising pilots were consulted on this matter.
Below is a photo of the nine foot high wall as it is today, devoid of any advertisements which have been removed by the Airport Authorities. One can also see the offensive lights by the wall as well. Funnily even without advertisements present on the wall the lights come on at night.
