Argentina to Rent Radar to Boost Up Air Safety

Argentina will rent two radar devices to bolster air safety after a lightning bolt damaged the system used to track flights at the country’s two largest airports, President Nestor Kirchner said.

Pilots at Argentina’s largest domestic airline, Austral, staged a brief strike on Thursday to demand the Air Force or the government explain how the radar system was working and take responsibility for any possible flaws.

The unionized pilots had said the radar system was not showing the exact coordinates of planes landing at or leaving from two Buenos Aires-area airports, a claim Defense Minister Nilde Garre publicly rejected.

In a press conference on Thursday, Garre said the primary radar device at Ezeiza Airport had not recovered from the lightning which struck earlier this month, but that two secondary radars were working perfectly.

She also announced the creation of a national civil aviation administration, the first step toward transferring air-traffic control duties from the military to civilians. Austral’s pilots ended the strike soon after Garre spoke.