Passengers and airport users will benefit from the provision of Category 11 and 111 instrument landing systems which will enable airlines land and take-off during low visibility. Before now, airlines were not able to take off and land during low visibility at most of the country’s airports.
However, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) recently equipped 14 airports with ILS Cat II Approach and Landing Minima. The airports that have CAT 11 include Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Ilorin, Gombe, Owerri, Sokoto, Uyo, Yola, Dutse, Calabar and Enugu airports.
Also NAMA says it is presently installing category III Instruments of Landing Systems ILS in Abuja and Lagos as pilot projects.
Passengers had complained of not being able to access some of these airports during harmattan season or bad weather, forcing them to use the roads as alternative which poses security risks.
However, airline operators and passengers can now heave a sigh of relief from this development.
This development is coming at a time when airlines had to cancel and delay over 50percent of their flights as a result of the harmattan haze, which made it difficult for pilots to operate.
With the installation of the new equipment, flights can also take off and land during harmattan periods, which happen to be peak periods for the airlines.
Sam Adurogboye, the general manager, Public Relations, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA), said the implementation of these revised aerodrome operating minima (both takeoff and landing) is based on compliance with applicable Standard Operating Procedures for Low Visibility Operations at the affected airports. This is executed by Flight Crew, Air Traffic Controllers (ATC), Aerodrome Operators and the Meteorological Agency.
According to Adurogboye, to ensure the seamless operation of these revised minima, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) shall continue to ensure prompt and regular provision of required meteorological information. These will include flight visibility and Runway Visual Range (RVR) values to all ATC units in the airports. Thus NiMET and NAMA shall ensure constant updating of the Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) with the available RVR values as appropriate.
“All airlines, Aerodrome Operators and Air Navigation Service Providers are required to ensure adequate training of their personnel and flight crew that would be involved in low visibility operations.
“The Air Navigation service provider is expected to ensure regular flight calibration of all available navigational aids. This is to ensure safe and efficient flight operations, especially during low visibility operations.
“The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) will continue to provide a proactive regulatory oversight that will ensure safety and security of all flight operations,” he added. Before now domestic carriers could only operate for an average of only five hours into some of these airports
Dung Rwang Pam, Nigeria’s Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI) coordinator, told BusinessDay that some of the landing aids were absent at most of the country’s airports include landing lights, the taxi way light to show airlines where the centre line and the edge of the runway is; and the apron, where airlines can taxi their aircraft.
He said lack of these instruments reduces the utilisation of the aircraft, adding that whether airlines use their aircraft or not, every 18 months, they have to pay for compulsory C check maintenance for their aircraft.
Fola Akinkuotu, the managing director of NAMA, who disclosed that it was aimed at tackling the problem encountered by pilots during the harmattan season when trying to land.
Akinkuotu, whose paper titled, ‘Recent strides for safer 2018 airspace management’ was presented by Johnson Otitolaye said the installation of Doppler VOR and distance measuring equipment were on going in 14 airports to replace the old ones.
According to the NAMA boss, multi-lateration system has been deployed to the Niger Delta region to take care of helicopters flying in the area.
Also installed by NAMA included a backup radio in Kano and Lagos remarking that vigorous trainings for air traffic controllers and engineers were being carried out in order to be at breast with current developments.
Akinkuotu revealed that NAMA has taken steps to ensure seamless flight operations in the country’s airspace stressing that the airspace was very safe. He however noted that unmanned area remote vehicle remained a great challenge to air safety across the globe.
To continue to achieve safe airspace, Akinkuotu urged the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to provide adequate lighting facilities at the airports while the NCAA must not relent in their oversight function.
