.. As Agency signs MoU on deployment of ADS-B system
Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd has lauded the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) for its excellence in delivering expeditious air navigation services within the nation’s airspace.
In a letter of commendation addressed to the managing director, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, the Airport manager of Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, Justin Bell said the airline appreciates NAMA’s efficiency in ensuring seamless, smooth and timely movement of aircraft across the Nigerian airspace, adding that the flight control team in the United Kingdom also appreciated the agency for its excellence in air navigation service provision. In a related development, the Minister of State, Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika has given kudos to NAMA for its “diligence and astuteness” in the discharge of its duties. In a letter signed by the asst. director of Air Transport, Richard Pheelangwah on behalf of the minister, Sirika advised the agency to “keep up” the good job it is doing in ensuring safety of air travel in the country.
This is coming just as the managing director of NAMA has described the role of human factor in Air Traffic Management safety as critical in the process of hazard identification and safety risk management.
Akinkuotu who was a guest speaker and panelist at the just-concluded Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) Africa Conference and Safety Seminar which held in Marrakesh, Morocco listed the human factors to include environmental, organisational and job factors as well as individual characteristics, saying that all these have direct impact on the individual’s behavior and could affect health and safety. Delivering a paper at the event with the title: Human Factor and Safety, Akinkuotu who was represented by the Legal Adviser, Mrs Anastasia Gbem, argued that the introduction of technology does not primarily aim at improving safety but “satisfying the demands for the increase in service delivery while maintaining existing margins of safety, stressing that “while the introduction of technology is an inevitable consequence of the needs of any mass production activity, its relevance in the management of safety cannot be overlooked.”
He averred that in Air Traffic Management, any technological advances deployed to improve the system capacity, if not properly interfaced through adequate training and orientation would lead to operational error, and that “while these technologies are introduced to increase ATM capacities, the consequences of operational error caused by poor interface between systems and Air Traffic Control Officers outweighs the primary objective of mass production with the ultimate safety penalties.” Akinkuotu therefore charged Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) in Africa to “continuously review work processes and procedures to further tighten the noose on vulnerability of mismatches in the interfaces between people and technology in order to effectively trap operational errors,” even as he tasked the executive leadership team to create a “zero-tolerance safety culture” to be embraced by all levels of the organisation.
Meanwhile, the Agency has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Aireon LLC of USA on exploring the deployment of space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system in Nigeria.
In a statement, the managing director, Akinkuotu said the ADS-B solution which is a recognised next-generation standard for surveillance and air traffic management is a critical requirement in preparation for the implementation of the relevant elements of Aviation System Block Upgrades (ASBU).
Signing the MoU at the agency’s headquarters in Lagos, the NAMA boss who expressed optimism that the ADS-B solution would ensure 100percent real time surveillance coverage of the Nigerian airspace noted that management was committed to exploring every opportunity and relevant technology to ensure safety of air navigation in the country in compliance with world best practices and regulatory requirements.
