Nama and the Radar Mishap
- By Business World
- Published December 21st, 2009
- Editorial
- Unrated
Sometime last week, the communication and radar system of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (Nama) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos was down for several hours. The immediate implication was that several flights within the vicinity of the airport could not be cleared for landing at the right time by air traffic controllers at the airport. Many aircraft thus crowded and hovered around the airspace for several hours. All the aircrafts caught in the air traffic jam lost so much aviation fuel while they were hovering that some of them requested for emergency landing in order to avoid crash landing.
To worsen the situation, there was power outage at that time and the two stand-by generators at the airport were reported to have failed. Thus, the airport was plunged into utter darkness for the period while the communication and radar system was down as well. It took several hours before the communication and radar system was finally resuscitated.
It is a surprise that the communication and radar system could break down without any of the officials, especially the engineers and the personnel at the control tower, not being aware of it in advance. It would be recalled that the radar system was just recently installed as part of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (Tracon) project. The installation of the Tracon was informed by the fact that without the communication and radar system of the airport working effectively round the clock, there would be no aircraft/flight taking off and landing safely. Airports are not like motor parks where there can be disorderliness and lawlessness. Air traffic control is the nerve of the airport, without which aircrafts would be taking off and landing blindly with all the negative consequences.
Aviation disaster is gradually being forgotten by Nigerians as they have not experienced such since the past three years and this has given the country a measured rate of credibility in that regard. Users of the various airports in the country have been having a good time as they enjoy the safety in the industry. The confidence that has been associated with the upsurge of activities in the industry is attributable to the relative calm and accident-free operations in the last few years.
Therefore, the federal government and the authorities involved, especially those at the technical units of the industry, must thoroughly investigate this development with a view to preventing a recurrence of similar incident, as its ugly effect will do the country’s economy a great damage.
A high-powered and sufficiently informed technical committee must be drafted by government to quickly investigate the matter to close all the gaps that may have led to the ugly development. Nama must also come out clearly with the facts as they relate to the development so that government can intervene from an informed position.
To worsen the situation, there was power outage at that time and the two stand-by generators at the airport were reported to have failed. Thus, the airport was plunged into utter darkness for the period while the communication and radar system was down as well. It took several hours before the communication and radar system was finally resuscitated.
It is a surprise that the communication and radar system could break down without any of the officials, especially the engineers and the personnel at the control tower, not being aware of it in advance. It would be recalled that the radar system was just recently installed as part of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (Tracon) project. The installation of the Tracon was informed by the fact that without the communication and radar system of the airport working effectively round the clock, there would be no aircraft/flight taking off and landing safely. Airports are not like motor parks where there can be disorderliness and lawlessness. Air traffic control is the nerve of the airport, without which aircrafts would be taking off and landing blindly with all the negative consequences.
Aviation disaster is gradually being forgotten by Nigerians as they have not experienced such since the past three years and this has given the country a measured rate of credibility in that regard. Users of the various airports in the country have been having a good time as they enjoy the safety in the industry. The confidence that has been associated with the upsurge of activities in the industry is attributable to the relative calm and accident-free operations in the last few years.
Therefore, the federal government and the authorities involved, especially those at the technical units of the industry, must thoroughly investigate this development with a view to preventing a recurrence of similar incident, as its ugly effect will do the country’s economy a great damage.
A high-powered and sufficiently informed technical committee must be drafted by government to quickly investigate the matter to close all the gaps that may have led to the ugly development. Nama must also come out clearly with the facts as they relate to the development so that government can intervene from an informed position.
