NAMA’s landing facility at great risk for non-usage
The Instrument Landing System (ILS) Category 3 may have been installed but the equipment may serve as a big waste of resources if the NCAA, FAAN and airlines fail to do what is expected of them to key into the vision, WOLE SHADARE writes
Wasted effort?
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) may have installed Category 3 Instrument Landing System at Lagos and Abuja airports, but the inability of other agencies in aviation sector to do their own bit may just make the installation of the multi-million naira facility a mere decoration.
The airspace agency and by extension the Ministry of Aviation were in the eyes of the storm early this year for allegedly not fixing the landing aid on time before the harmattan haze that disrupted flights for many days.
NAMA had an order, contracts for 11 airfields ILS. The beneficiary airports are those in Lagos, Minna, PHC, Benin, Abuja, Kaduna etc. They are 11 that are going to be installed. They are brand new. Lagos has an ILS; Ibadan airport too is going to get newer ones.
Reduced visibility
With harmattan season that reduce visibility and because of weather minimal provided with different categories of landing aid, some flights were cancelled. Some approaching had to be cancelled. There is a minima for a VOR approach.
The minima for NDB are lower than VOR and the minima for VOR is lower than the ILS and depending on the equipment on the plane.
Experts’ views
Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, said it was true that these technologies had been available for quite a while, stressing that when he assumed office, what they did was to call for a meeting with Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) to look at it and do cost and benefit analysis.
“We held series of meetings so that we can have informed judgment about it. We agreed that we would make efforts to install ILS CAT 3 so that we will improve our ability to deliver seamless flight operations. We were focused on what we wanted to achieve so that our customers will be able to travel at any given time.
“His words: “As I speak, only the foreign airlines make use of the type of corresponding equipment that they have on-board their aircraft. We have PBN at least in 18 of our airports. Arik Air is the only indigenous carrier that benefits from it. They can fly to lower minimums so long as their pilots are trained. But they have approval to utilise their on-board equipment and use PBN.”
According to him, the airplanes must have to meet certain requirements, stressing that they would need to have dual autopilot.
“This is because when you are flying zero visibility in Category three ILS, the pilot is not handling the situation; it is machines that will be doing the landing and take-off. So, there should be dual autopilot functioning in the airplane.
”The pilot has to be trained so that he will be able to fly in the dark and rely on the machines. The pilot has to be trained regularly for it. This can be done with simulator training. The on-board equipment has to meet the requirement. Those are the things that have to be put in place by the airline,” he added.
We started the programme. The equipment arrived. We started Installation for Lagos and Abuja. After the completion of this, we were planning to go into Port-Harcourt and Kano. The next phase will be for Sokoto, Maiduguri. It will be based on a need necessity.
“Yes, ILS Cat 3 equipment provided by NAMA is half of the story. Let us look at the other requirements. So, FAAN needs to know that they have to provide certain things but the operators have to have the equipment on-board their aircraft. Like I said in the case of PBN, only Arik as far as the airline that has been certified can use the PBN.
”We have PBN approaches for 26 airports. Who are we then developing this infrastructure for? It means we are doing them for international carriers. Our airlines need to take advantage of it including ILS Category 3. On the operators’ side, it will require pilot training, on-board equipment and recurrent training at every six months to guarantee that the pilots are qualified.”
Agencies not doing enough
A former President, Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), Mr. Victor Eyaru, told New Telegraph recently that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) may not be doing enough as the aviation regulatory body to compel airline owners to install corresponding equipment onboard their airplanes to enable them land their aircraft, especially during harmattan season.
Eyaru said that all the country’s navigational facilities were working at optimal levels, with precision approach landing aids at the five international airports where traffic is high also in top form.
The air traffic controller disclosed that the era of flight disruptions occasioned by harmattan or inclement weather was supposed to have become a thing of the past if the carriers had done what they were supposed to have done despite the over $6 million ILS installed at Lagos, Kano and other airports.
NATCA President, Mr. Yomi Agoro, admitted that NAMA had the Cat 3 ILS equipment on Runway 18/R but lamented that there are things that require to be put in place for the equipment to work effectively and optimally as CAT3.
He stated that all the sister agencies have one thing or the other to do before they can operate fully as CAT 3.
According to him, “the run way and taxiways are FAAN responsibilities. For NAMA, they need to secure the equipment and ensure no interference because of its sensitivity with no distortion of its signals.”
Requirements
Agoro disclosed that there mustn’t be power outages while other essential facilities must be put in place.
The NCAA, he said, is to regulate and ensure local operators are trained for the utilisation and certifications (approval), noting that a lot of technicalities were involved.
He said: “With CAT 3, NCAA needs to give the authorization for low visibility procedures. Most foreign carriers’ have the operational approvals for flying but the domestic carriers need to be trained and certified. For the airlines’ crew, trainings and on-board equipment need to be upgraded.”
To him, these are necessities, which are receiving attention from different quarters, affirming that some of the ILS are Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) and VHF omni-directional range (VOR).
The DME is a navigation beacon, usually coupled to enable aircraft to measure their position relative to that beacon. Aircraft send out signal, which is sent back after a fixed delay by the DME.
Last line
The newly installed Category 3 Instrument Landing system (ILS) recently installed by the NAMA to aid seamless landing are not fully in use due to absence of runway and approach lights.
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