NAMA’s AIS: All motions, no movement
- Paper flight plan risk to dispatchers-AIMAN
In what appears to be all motion without movement, the Aeronautical Information Management Association of Nigeria (AIMAN) has taken a swipe at non automation of Aeronautical Information System (AIS) years after the project was implemented by other poorest West African countries.
The group lamented that Nigeria has over the years remained stagnant with the automation of AIS. While Nigeria has remained stuck in the same position, many have or are moving towards Aeronautical Information Management (AIM).
AIMAN further stated that AIM in Nigeria remains the most backward in West Africa, as opposed to Africa as a whole, because the country is yet to be automated.
The objective of the AIS is to ensure the flow of information necessary for the safety, regularity and efficiency of international air navigation. When completed, it will enhance air to ground and ground to ground information and boost interconnectivity between aircraft and air traffic controllers.
The non automation of the AIS has made it very difficult for the adoption and usage of e-flight planning, e-Reception of raw data.
To achieve success, all the key agencies or data originators including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Nigerian Air Force, etc would need to enhance their data collation, origination, processing, storage and exchange system.
According to Ngerem, “It is sad to note that AIM in Nigeria remained the most backward in West Africa, as opposed to Africa as a whole, because we are yet to be automated”
Ngerem raised alarm over the current pandemic ravaging the world saying, that the health and safety of the AIS/AIM staff were at risk as a result of non automation of system making staff to have physical contact with flight dispatchers
“This digitalisation would have mitigated against some challenges experienced during this pandemic.
As it is, our staff are daily exposed to the health risk of COVID-19. They are exposed to related services who would have had no business going physically to AIS offices if the AIS automation had been implemented. They are also doubly exposed to flight dispatchers who come to submit flight plans physically”
“The Flight plans itself which are in paper form and can carry the virus if someone who is positive had held it. The AIS automation project would have clearly taken care of this concern”
According to Ngerem, the main objectives of the association include to provide forum to discuss and exchange concepts and practices related to major global changes in aeronautical services and other information sharing
related topics to the rapidly aeronautical information management community.
He explained that as part of AIS responsibilities and functions, they were expected to ensure that aeronautical data and aeronautical information necessary for the safety, regularity or efficiency of air navigation were made available in a form suitable for the operational requirements of the ATM community, including those involved in flight operations, flight crews, flight planning and flight simulator.
Ngerem said they also provide stakeholders with a better understanding of the activities, planning and implementation level on transition from Aeronautical Information Services to Aeronautical Information Management.
The World AIS Day celebration is an annual event which is celebrated every May 15 by all contracting states in accordance with the declaration by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
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