Business
Minister Suspends Air Traffic Controller Over Near Mishap
An Air Traffic Controller (ATC) at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, has been suspended over last week near air mishap.
Also, the two aircrafts involved in the near air mishap have been grounded by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) while the pilots and crew members were invited for more interrogation.
Speaking recently, the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Babatunde Omotoba, revealed that the Air Traffic Controller on duty gave the two air crafts wrong signals.
Omotoba assured Nigerians that the nation’s air space is safe.
It would be recalled that last two Fridays, there was a near air mishap over Port Harcourt Air Space. An aircraft was taking off from Calabar while another one was coming to land in Calabar, and they were about to collide.
The minister, however, said investigation revealed that the fault came from the Air Traffic Controller who gave faulty wrong signals.
“When we looked at his logbook, he asked the pilot that was about to land to descend to a level of 21,000 feet where as what he put down on his logbook was 25,000 feet.
“And then he also asked the other one which was taking off to Lagos to stay at 21,000 feet, so they had to cross path.”
He revealed that what save the situation was the defence we have in our airspace. “On every aircraft in Nigeria we have what is call “Traffic Collision Avoidence System (TCAS)”, he said.
“So the system in one of the air crafts was able to notice that an aircraft was coming very close to it and the it decided to come down to 5,000 feet to ensure that there was no collision.
Omotoba, however, expressed happiness that there was no collision and that the TCAS that was put on our air craft is working, otherwise it would have been disastrous.”
The Minister, however, revealed government’s plans to make the air space safe, stressing that, the total radar coverage at Port Harcourt would be fully ready and functional and these errors would be reduced and the visual would be clearer.
He further revealed that the federal government has approved N4.6 billion for the maintenance of the total radar coverage deployed by NAMA.
The contract, he said is in line with the federal government’s efforts to enhance safety in the airspace.
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