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NIMET, accident bureau move to prevent air mishaps

By BusinessNews Staff on January 10, 2014

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency and the Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau have announced that they have doubled their efforts to enhance aviation safety and security this year.

The spokesperson, Aviation Parastatals, Mr. Yakubu Dati, who gave the hint, said the efforts included the installation of essential facilities such as the Doppler Weather Radar and Calibrated Meteorological Instrument.

He said the facilities were installed to detect and track hazardous weather systems on real-time basis and guarantee weather data reliability.

He said, “Wind shear is a major weather hazard that has contributed to many aircraft accidents in the past. By means of these instruments, the occurrence of low level wind shear can now be detected and early warnings relayed to pilots before take-off and landing.

“The existence of these instruments has guaranteed accurate and timely weather forecasts, measurements and observations that have met the International Civil Aviation Organisation standards.

“With these in place, pilots can now obtain accurate and reliable weather information prior to every flight out of any Nigerian airport.”

Dati added that the AIPB had been able to download, extract, decode and analyse the data from the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder, thus saving time and money, speeding up the investigation process and upgrading the skills of aircraft accident investigators.

He explained that with the release of all the nine outstanding accident investigation reports from previous years, critical safety information in the form of 36 safety recommendations had been pushed out for implementation by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to further enhance the safety net.

Meanwhile, the management of Skyway Aviation Handling Company has said that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria should not involve itself with cargo handling at the nation’s airports.

The Managing Director, SAHCOL, Mr. Oluropo Owolabi, at a briefing in Lagos on Wednesday, said it was not healthy for FAAN to be competing with cargo handling companies.

This, he added, would not allow the private sector companies, which decided to invest in the business, to thrive.

He said, “The thing is that when you ask private people to come and take part in the airport business, you have to create an enabling environment for such private firms to thrive so that they can also break-even and carry out their responsibilities as at when due. But how do you thrive when your landlord is competing with you in the business?

“The fact remains that FAAN is our landlord, it built the airports and it has no business in the cargo handling business. Since it is a private partnership, when the private investors invest, they must be able to get some returns on their investment.”

Owolabi said the government should understand that handling companies needed a lot of space to carry out their business, adding that it was important that adequate space be provided for business owners so that they could operate effectively and meet the needs of their customers.

[Punch]

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