Timika Airport Become A Major Airport

Timika, Papua, Aug 7 (ANTARA) - The Mozes Kilangin Airport in Timika, Papua province, will be officially designated as a major airport as soon as all its air navigation facilities pass the calibration test conducted by the Calibration Centre for Civil Aviation, according to the Directorate General of Transportation Ministry. "The calibration of all air navigation facilities in Timika Airport was done during July 9-18. The calibration process used the King Air plane owned by the Calibration Centre of Civil Aviation Directorate," said John Rettob, the head of civil aviation at Mimika`s transportation, communication and information office, here on Monday. "A number of aviation navigation equipment have been calibrated, including the instrument landing system (ILS), which consists of a localizer for detecting the runway centerline, a glide pack to find the landing point and the middle marker to determine the ratio between the height of the aircraft and the landing point," John explained. "Another equipment that has been calibrated is the civil aviation radar. The calibration for this equipment involved officials from Sentani Airport Jayapura (Papua) and Hasanuddin Airport Makassar (South Sulawesi), so the three civil aviation radars could be connected," he added. John said the calibration of the civil aviation radar equipment at Timika Airport was done from 6,000 feet (the lowest elevation), followed by 10,000 feet, 30,000 feet, and 35,000 feet (the maximum altitude). He stated that the calibration equipment was functioning properly. "The calibration process was also carried out on the landing lights at runway 12, located at the south of Mozes Kilangin Airport, for landing procedures," John said. In addition, the calibration was done on PT Freeport Indonesia`s equipment installed at Timika Airport, such as the VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Range) to obtain azimuth information, and also the NDB (Non Directional Beacons) to show the aircraft`s bearing to the Timika Airport, he added. "All the air navigation equipment installed by the civil aviation directorate and those belonging to PT Freeport in Timika Airport are in good condition after the calibration," John noted. After all the facilities are calibrated, the Mimika`s transportation, communication and information office will report the results to the Civil Aviation Directorate of Transportation Ministry. Within three months of the submission of the report, Mozes Kilangin Airport Timika will be declared as a major airport in the aeronautical information publication book that will be sent to all airlines across the world. By the time the book is published, all planes with a stopover in Timika will have already started using the air navigation facilities in Mozes Kilangin Airport.