The reason Nigeria could not use an helicopter at night to carry a search and rescue operation has been revealed.
A Beecraft 1900D got missing at Obaliku Village, Cross River State, a few years ago and it took days before the authorities could locate the crash scene.
The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, said helicopters could not operate in Nigerian airspace at night for now because of the concentration of communication masts that litter the flight pathway and inability of helicopter operators in the country to switch on to the new Performance Based Navigation (PBN).
Demuren spoke yesterday while unveiling a roadmap document to provide high-level guidance for the implementation of PBN in the country.
Can we just imagine? A country like Nigeria still faces this kind of challenges... I hope Nigeria gets it right in time...