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Safety: NAMA to calibrate Abuja, four other airports
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is to immediately begin the calibration of the navigational aids at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja after the completion of work on the N5 billion refurbish runway. The runway is to be completed on April 19, 2017.
After repairs, flights would not be allowed to land on the facility until the navigational tools are flight checked to guarantee accuracy and safety of aircraft.
Calibration is the periodic evaluation of navigational aids used in aviation such as flight and electronic signals, to ensure they are safe and accurate.
Unlike flight tests, which analyse the aerodynamic design and safety of the aircraft itself, flight inspection comprises reviewing flight procedures such as routes, approaches and departures to ensure navigational support is sufficient, there are no obstacles and the procedure is reliable.
Flight inspectors originally tested the accuracy of light beacons sighted while flying. These beacons allowed pilots to fly at night with visual guidance. Radio navigation systems followed, with inspectors testing the radio transmitters while airborne, and then GPS.
Customised aircraft are used for flight inspection, with dedicated receivers and sensors to collect data from the navigational aids being inspected. Computers decode the data and compare to the real aircraft position, with results displayed to the inspector for verification while airborne.
The Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu told Woleshadare.net that calibration is a routine exercise that is done every six months or one year.
He stated that the agency would take advantage of the Abuja airport to calibrate equipment in five other aerodromes, saying this is based on economic of scale to reduce cost since the country has the opportunity to get do so.
Another top official of the agency, an engineer who spoke on condition of anonymity said the calibration of the navaids would in no way affect the re-opening of the runway scheduled for April 19, 2017, saying work had reached 80 per cent completion.
The source said the calibration would only last for five hours and one that does not take days to do.
The planned calibration of the Abuja runway is coming less than two months after NAMA, completed the routine calibration of the Very High Omnidirectional Radio Range/Distance Measuring Equipment (VOR/DME) and the flight commissioning of the Instrument Landing System/Distance Measuring Equipment (ILS/DME) of the Kaduna Airport ahead of the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Internatinal Airport, Abuja.
The Kaduna Airport has continued to serve as alternate airport during the period of closure of Abuja Airport.
According to the Calibration Manager, Engr. Akeem Ogunmola, the calibration exercise was done in a bid to ensure accuracy, reliability and efficiency of facilities at the Kaduna airport, Ogunmola said “the component parts of the facilities which include Two VOR transmitters, two DMEs co-located with the VORs, two localizer transmitters, two glideslope transmitters and two DMEs co-located with the glideslope all passed the flight calibration test.
The flight calibration was handled by Omni-Blue Aviation Ltd along with their technical partners (FCSL of United Kingdom) in collaboration with NAMA engineers who carried out the installation, alignment and parameter adjustment.
