.. Says ‘we are exposed to COVID-19’
The Aeronautical Information Management Association of Nigeria (AIMAN) has condemned the non-automation of Aeronautical Information System (AIS) years after the project was implemented by other poorest West African countries
The non automation of the AIS has made it very difficult for the adoption and usage of e-flight planning, e-Reception of raw data.
The president of AIMAN William George Ngerem, in a message to mark the World AIS Day, challenged the management of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency NAMA to provide the right channel through which they carry out their work seamless and effectively without physical contact with their related services.
According to Ngerem, “It is sad to note that AIM in Nigeria remained the most backward in West Africa, as opposed to Africa as a whole, because we are yet to be automated. We are tired of waiting for more than ten years.”
Ngerem raised alarm over the current pandemic ravaging the world saying, that the health and safety of the AIS/AIM staff were at risk as a result of non-automation of the system making staff have physical contact with flight dispatchers.
“This digitalization would have mitigated against some challenges experienced during this pandemic. As it is, our staff are daily exposed to the health risk of COVID-19. They are exposed to related services who would have had no business going physically to AIS offices if the AIS automation had been implemented. They are also doubly exposed to flight dispatchers who come to submit flight plans physically.”
“The Flight plans itself which are in paper form and can carry the virus if someone who is positive had held it. The AIS automation project would have clearly taken care of this concern.”
According to Ngerem, the main objectives of the association include providing a forum to discuss and exchange concepts and practices related to major global changes in aeronautical services and other information-sharing related topics to the rapidly aeronautical information management community.
He explained that as part of AIS responsibilities and functions, they were expected to ensure that aeronautical data and aeronautical information necessary for the safety, regularity or efficiency of air navigation was made available in a form suitable for the operational requirements of the ATM community, including those involved in flight operations, flight crews, flight planning and flight simulator.
Ngerem said they also, provide stakeholders with a better understanding of the activities, planning and implementation level on the transition from Aeronautical Information Services to Aeronautical Information Management.
While commending the Managing Director of NAMA for his efforts in trying to automate AIS, Ngerem urged him to do more for the AIS by ensuring that the project was completed
The Aeronautical Information Management Association of Nigeria (AIMAN), an affiliate of the International Federation of Aeronautical Information Management Association (IFAIMA) with its members domiciled in Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Nigerian College of Aviation technology (NCAT) – is the body that collects, collates, processes and disseminates aeronautical information necessary for the safety, regularity and the efficiency of air navigation for the use of aviation stakeholders and the public that is particularly interested in aviation matters.
The World AIS Day celebration is an annual event which is celebrated every May 15 by all contracting states in accordance with the declaration by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The theme for this year’s World AIS/AIM Day is “Challenges of COVID – 19 on Aeronautical Information Management Operations (AIM OPS)”.
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