Business
Obudu Airstrip To Enjoy Regular Flights
The Deputy Director, Tourism Development and Desk Officer for Obudu Cattle Ranch, Clement Anike, says regular flight operations will commence at the Bebi airstrip in Obudu, Cross River State next month.
Consequently, the state government has procured an AGR 42 aircraft with the capacity to carry 54 passengers which will be managed by Aero Contractors.
Anike, who disclosed this when a delegation of National Good Governance Tour inspected the airstrip, said the aim was to boost commerce and tourism in the state.
According to him, the state government is collaborating with the federal government to develop the Bebi Airstrip to facilitate easy access to the tourist sites in line with the drive to boost the tourism potentials of the state.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has concluded plans to install the Automatic Dependence Surveillance Broadcast and multilateration system for the observation of low flying helicopters involved in oil and gas activities.
The federal government would also use the system to monitor movements of unauthorised playing aircraft, arms smuggling and the use of illegal airstrips that are ubiquitously located at different areas of the Niger Delta.
A top official of the agency who spoke on condition of anonymity said “although the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) covered the nation’s airspace, all radars in the world do not cover low attitude flying aircraft and that explains why during wars pilots fly below the radar to avoid detection.
“We are going to have increased safety. It is going to help search-and-rescue and obviously it is going to help security too because it can detect movement of any flying object in that area. So, it has both safety and security impact on the system”, he said.
“In the Gulf of Guinea what you have going on there is that you have very low flying helicopters as low as 1000 feet-that is below the radar detection area. So, it is not a defect of the TRACON system, but the propagation pattern of radars all over the world.
“So, what you now have is that there are other technologies that give you that coverage. One of them is ADBB and the other one is multilateration”, he added.
Reward Akwu