Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) organised a workshop on Aviation Height Clearance (AHC) in Ilorin, Kwara state.
Speaking at the workshop, sponsored by the NCAA, the acting Director-General of the authority, Captain Chris Najomo, said that regulatory control of high structures within the navigable airspace of Nigeria is important to the safety of air travel.
Represented by the Director, Aerodome and Airspace Standards, Balang Godwin, Najomo said that indiscriminate erections of high structures pose a significant risk to aircraft during take-off, landing and manoeuvring.
Najomo said, “Hence the utmost importance of the Authority’s power, based on the provision of the Civil Aviation Act 2023 to regulate the phenomenon.
“Presently, about 45,000 high structures all over the country have been granted Aviation Height Clearance certificates by the authority.
“A large number of these structures would have constituted obstructions to air navigation and made our aerodome unsafe and, in some cases, unsuitable for flight operations.”
Najomo also said that the workshop, which represents a step forward in the right direction to further prepare the inspectors for the task of ensuring safety in Nigeria airspace, would not only be beneficial to the participants, but to the authority, aviation community and Nigeria as a whole.
Also speaking, the MD/CEO Delara Aviation Training & Consulting Limited, Mrs Shin-Aba Victoria, who facilitated the workshop, said that importance of ensuring safe and efficient air travel cannot be overstated, adding that obstacle control plays a vital role in achieving the goal.
She assured that facilitators are well experienced, adding that the programme was designed to meet highest standards and guaranteed a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of issues about aviation height clearance.’
To the participants, she urged them to cooperate with the facilitators in order to achieve the goal of the workshop which is to ensure Nigeria airspace safety.
The coordinator of the workshop, Dr. Paul Ajakaye, said that the main objective of the workshop is to enhance competency of inspectors.
“You’ll notice these days, the presence of masts, towers, and other kinds of high-rise structures that could constitute obstructions to air navigation if not properly evaluated and the risks mitigated in terms of markings, lightings and reduction of heights in some instances as demanded by the National Civil Aviation Regulations and related International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) documents.
“So we’re here to enhance the capacities of the Inspectors to deal with the challenges associated with erections of high structures all over the country”.
Ajakaiye also noted that the workshop would serve as a refresher training for some of the participants who are already Safety Inspectors as well as a formal training for the newly employed. The training will enable the younger officers to have their scope of authorisation on obstacle analysis”.
Regarding the participants, he said,” It is important to let them know that they are in an establishment that takes safety as a priority. Hence, youthful exhuberance are not allowed just as their attitude must tally with the objective of the organization by doing the right thing at the right time. We’ve laid emphasis on it, and we believe they’ll build on it”.
In his contribution, at the event, the Head of Aviation Height Clearance Unit in NCAA, Mr. Rauf Adebayo Opeloyeru, said about 150 Inspectors drawn from all over the NCAA regional offices in the country attended the workshop. He said that training is done at all times to ensure that NCAA is above board as the regulatory body for the aviation industry.
“The expectation is that at the end of the workshop, the quality of their work will improve considerably,” he said.
He assured air passengers that NCAA is always doing the best to make sure that their safety is guaranteed at all times.
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