The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has revealed plans to embark on aggressive deployment of communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) infrastructure across airports in the country in the next one year to further boost the safety of air travel in the country.
In line with this mission, the agency says it has put in place arrangements for the installation of Category-Three (Cat-3A) Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Making this disclosure at a Gateway Forum organized by aviation correspondents in Lagos over the weekend, the Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, said the deployment of the hi-tech Cat-3A ILS navigational equipment would ensure that aircraft can land and take off from the Lagos and Abuja airports in zero visibility or the worst weather condition that impedes the pilots visibility.
The Cat-3A ILS is a technology fitted into an airport’s landing systems that allows air traffic controllers spot an oncoming aircraft under the worst visibility and guide the pilot blindly without him or her having to physically (or through the use of visual aids or markings) sight the runways to effect a safe landing or takeoff of an aircraft.
The challenge with the Cat-3A ILS, however, is that it can only be utilised by pilots flying aircraft that are also Cat-3A compliant. Not all aircraft can be so guided. At the parley, Akinkuotu, who recently clocked one year as the NAMA boss, listed some of his achievements to include installation of communication radios in strategic areas in the country as well as upgrade of existing ones, deployment of ILS and other navigational aids across airports in the country. He also revealed that a new ILS and a Doppler Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range (DVOR) have been installed and calibrated in Kano, just as Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) capacity have been improved through training and retraining. On critical projects to be embarked upon in the next one year, Akinkuotu said although the issue of Aeronautical Information Services Automation by the agency has dragged on since 2009, his administration was determined to see to its completion so that NAMA can migrate to Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) in view of all the deliverables that would accrue to the agency.