Air traffic engineers want change to satellite-based system

[NewsCaster]

THE Federal Government has been asked to expedite action on all ongoing projects in the aviation industry in order to ensure their immediate use.

The call was made by the National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE) in a statement by NAAE's National President, Isaac Orishaleye, in Abuja at the end of its yearly general meeting.

It also stressed the need for a more aggressive implementation of the satellite-based systems in all phases of flight.

The aviation industry is replete with many projects that seem to have been abandoned at various stages of completion many years after work started on them.

Some of the projects are the airfield lighting of the runway of the Lagos airport, upgrade of some of the international airports and back-up power for sensitive and expensive equipment of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

Particularly worrisome is the multi-billion naira airfield lighting of the runways that has caused considerable discomfort to travellers and pilots as they cannot take off or land on the runway once it is past 6p.m., forcing airlines to taxi to the one used by foreign airlines.

The development has not only led to carriers expending more fuel to taxi to the area, it has also caused congestion for clearing of aircraft to land by air traffic controllers.

According to NAAE, adequate funds should be provided for the maintenance of all completed projects in the country while dedicated operational vehicles should be made available for timely maintenance of the air navigation system.

While appreciating government's strides in the provision of the state-of-the-art Central Navigation System/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) such as the total radar coverage of Nigeria (TRACON), Total Very High Frequency (VHF) coverage, AIS Automation and World Geodetic System-84 (WGS-84) projects, NAAE reiterated the need for adequate funding of Air Traffic Safety Electronics Personnel (ATSEP) in the industry.

The World Geodetic System is a standard for use in cartography, geodesy and navigation. It comprises a standard coordinate frame for the earth, a standard spheroidal reference surface for raw altitude data, and a gravitational equipotential surface that defines the nominal sea level.

The latest revision is WGS 84 (dating from 1984 and last revised in 2004), which was valid up to about 2010. Earlier schemes included WGS 72, WGS 66, and WGS 60. WGS 84 is the reference coordinate system used by the Global Positioning System (GPS).

The body also demanded in the statement some licensed personnel for optimum performance.

It further called for the consolidation of its pioneering training for ATSEP by NCAT noting that efforts by the government and NAMA towards the WGS-84 Survey was highly commendable.

Source: Air traffic engineers want change to satellite-based system