Why some parts of Nigeria airspace remains unsafe for flying – NAMA

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has attributed the creation of new routes to the reason some aspect of the country’s airspace remained unsafe for flying.
The agency said this in a statement by the Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu.

This was in apparent response to the claim by some pilots in the country that some aspects of the nation’s airspace was unsafe for flying,
The agency, however, said efforts were being made to improve the situation.
Akinkuotu further assured the flying public and pilots that the nation’s airspace was safe for seamless and economic air navigation, adding that the last phase, which was the area control or upper airspace communication, may have a few challenges

The statement read: “NAMA is making concerted efforts to address these challenges, one of which was the deployment of the Total VHF Coverage of Nigeria in 2010, which was limited by the architecture of eight VHF remote radio stations deployed then.
“The agency has taken drastic steps to tackle communication challenges especially in the upper airspace in the past couple of years, significant progress was being made in that direction.
“Pilots still fly blind in some parts of the airspace between Lagos and Abuja and Port Harcourt, the radio communication in that axis is poor and irresponsible.

“Radio communication in the ground control, covering 65 nautical miles at the 32 air traffic control units in Nigerian airports was perfect and this was done under phase one of the project. The second phase, which was the tower control, also covering 65 nautical miles and critical for landing and takeoff, was equally working optimally in all the 32 airports in the country.
“The third phase “approach communication,” covering up to 130 nautical miles is working perfectly in all the 32 air traffic control units in the country. Although the last phase, which was the Area Control or Upper Airspace Communication, may have a few challenges, but this is due to the creation of new routes.
“The agency is making concerted efforts to address these challenges, one of which was the deployment of the Total VHF Coverage of Nigeria in 2010, which he said was limited by the architecture of 8 VHF remote radio stations deployed then.

“The agency had just taken delivery of Extended Range VHF radio systems to replace old the radios in 8 remote sites, while six more are to be added, making them 14 in number.”

- DAILY POST