Poor infrastructure threatens air safety, air traffic controllers warn

Air Traffic Controllers in Nigeria have warned that existing infrastructure at some of the nation’s airports are too fragile to support or guarantee the continuous  safety of flights and passengers. Victor Eyaru, President of the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (NATCA), in a statement, listed the technical deficiency of some runways, the control towers, and radar facilities and allied facilities at the nation’s airports as part of NATCA’s concerns, noting that they are in dire need of government’s intervention to ward off major air accidents in the immediate future. “We believe that aviation deserves more careful attention since its operations are safety critical and has witnessed colossal rot in the past,” Eyaru said. “First is the Lagos Central taxiway, which has been out of use for more than six years due to abandonment of the reconstruction work on it. This has led to only the usage of Eastern taxiway whenever only Runway 18L/36R is available for landing and takeoff. Aircraft accidents on ground have been recorded more than twice in recent times whenever wide bodied aircraft make use of the Eastern taxiway. The most recent was at 2045 UTC on July 6, 2015 when the Emirate’s aircraft B777 flight UAE784 ran into parked HAK Airline’s aircraft on the apron. “We call on government to urgently fix this taxiway to prevent avoidable aircraft accidents on ground and to increase the capacity of the airport. “Second, it is unfortunate that none of the radar facilities within Nigeria’s airspace has any form of backup. In time of any failures or major maintenance work will leave Air Traffic Controllers to revert to the less efficient procedural (non-radar) system of control, which invariably increases traffic delay and losses to airline operators. Other components of the radar equipment such as Mode S and AFTN have not been activated, which are meant to enhance levels of air safety. “Third, airport facilities; it is very important to see to the thorough rehabilitation of most of the Nigerian airports’ runways and associated facilities that are in bad shape to reduce possibility of aircraft accidents. “In the same spirit, recent remodelling of some terminal buildings across the nation requires reassessment to get the repair works properly completed to achieve its purpose. “Fourth, bees invasion of Jos Control Tower; it is disheartening to note that Jos Control Tower has been invaded by bees for more than a decade without effective action to remedy the situation. Many Air Traffic Controllers have been attacked by the bees while at work. We were lucky not to have lost one Controller to the bees’ attack in the last quarter of 2014. “The Federal Government will do well to urgently intervene to prevent any unwholesome incident,” the Air Traffic Controllers added.

Source - The Sun