Poor landing aid: Air traffic controllers under stress in aircraft separation
Air traffic controllers in the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency NAMA are presently suffering untold hardship following the epileptic state of Cat 3 Instrument Landing Systems installed at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.
The controllers, Daily Times gathered that the poor state of landing aid at the airport has kept the controllers on their toes by working under stress trying to separate inbound and outbound aircraft from colliding in the air.
The professionals it was gathered instead of relying on equipment at the tower now use their mental ability to direct, control and advise pilots on landing and take-off procedures.
Pilots especially the international airlines, who were before now relying on equipment at the airport to land have become liabilities to the ATCs to get accurate landing information.
It was learnt that some foreign airlines now resolved to go to Accra where they can get accurate weather report to land due to the improved facilities at the airport.
The airline will then reroute to Nigeria from Accra as soon as the weather situation improves. Aviation stakeholders have continued to blame NAMA for rushing to install the Cat 3 knowing fully well that Hamarttan was coming and FAAN not ready to fix the lightings.
The two important aids (VOR and ILS ) were withdrawn the same time while the celebrated B350 calibration jet is grounded for not being airworthy.
Stakeholders have also called for certification of personnel to fly the calibration aircraft and the aircraft itself by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority noting that billions of naira used in purchasing the calibration aircraft were wasted.
