Thunderstorm, lightening destroy Abuja airport radar
*NAMA engineers restore system after one week
*Nigeria loses revenue over epileptic radar system at airports
For one week, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja functioned without radar as thunderstorm and lightening that occurred on October 15, 2016 at about 9.30pm had kept the system down until the equipment was fixed today.
The director of engineering Engr.. Farouk A. U was on ground with the team all through to encourage and motivate the team.
In the pics from front rôw left to right engr Philip Tsado- TRACON catsso abuja. Alhaji Jibrin Haske- Asm abuja. Engr Farouk- Director of Engineering. Engr WILLIAMS- GM surveillance. Engr Hauwa Ummy Abubakar- tracon abuja . Engr Bello A.- HOD Kano surveillance. Engr isa las- HOD abuja surveillance. Back row from left.
Engr EMMA EKWERIKE-tracon catsso, Abuja. Engr Tunde Aro- tracon abuja. Engr Abdulaziz – AGM EC lagos. engr isa Abubakar- Ec kano. Engr Olajide Olabode – lagos tracon. Engr EMEKA – abuja tracon. And ENGR Sule. B. – AGM abuja tracon
In the pics from front rôw left to right engr Philip Tsado- TRACON catsso abuja. Alhaji Jibrin Haske- Asm abuja. Engr Farouk- Director of Engineering. Engr WILLIAMS- GM surveillance. Engr Hauwa Ummy Abubakar- tracon abuja . Engr Bello A.- HOD Kano surveillance. Engr isa las- HOD abuja surveillance. Back row from left.
Engr EMMA EKWERIKE-tracon catsso, Abuja. Engr Tunde Aro- tracon abuja. Engr Abdulaziz – AGM EC lagos. engr isa Abubakar- Ec kano. Engr Olajide Olabode – lagos tracon. Engr EMEKA – abuja tracon. And ENGR Sule. B. – AGM abuja tracon
The thunderstorm and lightening disrupted radar activities at Abuja Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) site. To rectify the situation, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) engineers went to work immediately to ascertain the extent of damage done.
A top management staff of the agency told WoleshadareNews that it was discovered that two lines that converts the radar signals to enable it travel a long distance and make it readable in human form got burnt.
A report of the incident also shows that some other accessories like network time protocol and encoder were also burnt or mis-configured by the thunderstorm. Some accessories were restored immediately.
According to the report, the critical nature of the fault had never been experienced by the engineers as the monitoring system at Kano and Lagos indicate no faults.
“Yet, the tracks were not received by Kano and Lagos system. This requires careful analysis, diagnosis and if possible, surgery on the equipment. A combined team of NAMA engineers across the agency put the system back on track.”
While the fault lasted, there were delays because the agency lacks critical spares to work with, thereby increasing the mean time to restore back the system.
The agency is said to lack proper training of personnel as the engineers had to work as a team putting ideas together, fixing the missing puzzles to make the system work, just as the NAMA engineers achieved the feat without the support of Thales, the manufacturers of the multi billion naira radar systems.
The Director of Engineering, Farouk Ahmed was on ground with the team all through to encourage and motivate them
The last and complex part was getting, configuring and fixing the frame relay access device called FAD. The one week long problem came to an end with the fixing of two FAD.
Meanwhile, Air traffic controllers under the aegis of the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (NATCA) have called on the Federal Government to urgently declare a state of emergency on what it described as the epileptic working condition of communication facilities in the Nigerian airspace.
In a communique issued at the end of its 45th Annual General Meeting held in Jos, Plateau State and signed by Victor Eyaru and Banji Olawode, President and Secretary General of NATCA respectively, the group disclosed that the present controller-pilot VHF communication coverage of the country’s airspace does not meet the required standard thereby constituting threats to air safety.
They said they are seriously concerned about the safety of pilots, aircraft and passengers that operate within the Nigerian airspace.
They noted that on a daily basis, Nigeria loses enormous revenue in foreign exchange due to many aircraft operating within the upper airspace avoiding the Nigeria’s airspace.
According to the communique, “The inability of air traffic controllers to communicate effectively with pilots over the years has negatively affected the health of air traffic controllers.”
“We hereby call on the Federal Government to investigate these claims by involving the end users (Pilots’ Association) and also request urgent reforms within three months. After this period, the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers may be left with no option than to take necessary actions.”
They further disclosed that the radar equipment (TRACON) working condition is appalling as a result of frequent failures.
To them, the lifespan of the equipment has expired and requires urgent replacement or upgrade, adding that the replacement/upgrade should involve active Air Traffic Controllers and be handled in a transparent way in the interest of the nation.
The Association therefore rejected what it said is the lip service being paid to the air traffic control manpower shortage in the country where only less than half the required number is available.
For illustration, Air Traffic Navigation Service (ATNS) of South Africa has 1, 076 personnel of air traffic controllers, 500 Area Control Centres with two airport control towers whereas, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has 2, 500 personnel with just 300 air traffic controllers across the nation with two Area Control Centres and 32 control towers.
The group called on the Federal Government and NAMA to immediately recruit more Air Traffic Controllers into the system in the interest of air safety, adding that the inability of the various agencies employing air traffic controllers such as NAMA, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) to provide adequate resources for the recruitment and training of Air Traffic controllers as a result of the over bloated personnel is skewed against the core professionals is unacceptable.
The controllers therefore called on the Federal Government to urgently appoint a well-qualified person as the Chief Executive Officer for the agency.
It would be recalled that NAMA has been with an acting Managing Director for over eight months after its former Managing Director, Ibrahim Abdulsalam was nabbed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged theft and fraud. He has since pleaded not guilty as his trial continues in Federal High Court, Lagos.
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