Aviation Expert Wants Increased Surveillance For Aerodromes

An expert in runway safety and a pilot, Captain Folu Oladipo has called for regular inspection of the airport runways to identify problems and address them quickly in order to reduce accidents.
He noted that over 60 per cent of fatal accidents in aviation were related to the runway and urged all African states to implement runway safety to reduce fatal accidents by 50 per cent.
Oladipo, who is also a member of the Runway Safety Team, in an interaction with aviation correspondents at Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, on Tuesday, noted that many factors were responsible for these accidents and incidences on the runway.
These factors he said include; runway contamination, adverse weather condition, failure to provide timely, accurate and relevant information to pilots, inadequate signage, markings, illumination, lighting and runway designs, among others.
“One of the biggest problems is conditions of the runways which make aircraft over shoot the runway. There are a lot of contributory factors like lighting and navigational aids, these are things that would assist the pilot to land”, he said.
The expert said that incidences of runway incursion, excursion and confusion can be mitigated if there is increased surveillance on the runways.
He also harped on the need for at least one regular inspection to be conducted daily at aerodromes which are open for 24 hours operation, as soon as practicable, before the first flight in the day or before the commencement of flying in non 24 hours aerodromes.

Corlins Walter