NAMA reassures pilots on optimal landing aids

The Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has reassured pilots using the airspace of optimal landing aids performance at airports nationwide.NAMA said contrary to a report (not The Guardian), safety of the equipment is not in doubt and adherence to international standard has not been compromised.

General Manager, Public Affairs NAMA, Olajumoke Adetona said the nation’s air navigation service provider has always adhered to the rules and regulations of the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), which Nigeria is a party to its charter.

Adetona said before the closure of Abuja airport for repairs of the runway recently, the ILS/DME and VOR/DME in Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Lagos, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Bauchi airports were calibrated by South African Flight Calibration Company (FSCL) and all the facilities presented were certified as operating optimally without restriction and within ICAO specifications.

Airspace Manager of Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos, Lawrence Ajayi, refuted claims that ILS at Runway 18L and 18R were unserviceable.According to Ajayi, Runway 18R has precision approach lighting system, which is one of the best in the industry, while 18L has simple approach lighting system because it is not busy at night, saying that both of them are working at optimal levels.

On the radios, he said Radio Frequency 127.3mhz has an improved range and is working perfectly just as the Radio Frequency 124.7 mhz is also in good condition and both of them are on presently.

Director of Safety Electronics and Engineering Services, Engr. Farouk Umar, said in aviation, there is nothing like epileptic communication.“It is either you are communicating or you are not communicating. If this were to be true, international flights would not have been coming into the country. Nigerian airspace is safe for both local and international flights.”

He stressed further that “it is absolutely not true that some areas in the airspace have no communication at all.” Farouk added that all the agency’s ILS are on Category Two. However, “most of the aircraft in the country do not even have the facilities to fly Cat3 because the aircraft need to be equipped with Cat3 facilities to be able to land in zero visibility, just as pilots themselves need to be trained on Cat3.

“The ILS we have, you need other facilities at the airport and in the aircraft to complement them while the runway and the airfield lightings are not within the control of NAMA. Our ILS is Cat2 and the visibility minima is 800 meters which is okay,” he said.