Barring any last minute shift, all is set for the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to begin its pre-calibration brief and calibration exercise with Doppler Omni-Directional Range (VOR) and the CAT III Instrument Landing System (ILS) in Lagos today, Friday, January 17, 2020.
Details gathered by Business Hilights Thursday evening showed that the airspace managers maybe calibrating the navigational aids of all the nation’s airports including ongoing installation of Enugu new ILS/DME which will be ready soon with the nation’s newly acquired King Air 350i calibration airplane with Omni Blue as a backup in case of failure.
Besides, the Omni Blue became a variable in the equation because this was the first calibration being conducted with the new aircraft procured at over $85m.
Though authorities have failed to give reason for the delays that cost Lagos Airport the landing of several international flights in the last couple of weeks due to issues in ILS as observed by foreign airlines, it is believed that after the just started exercise, normalcy will return to Lagos Airport for international flights. The airlines had diverted their landing to neighbouring nation’s airports including Accra in Ghana and even Benin Republic where the facilities are in good shapes.
Business Hilights gathered that Certified Flight Instructors and pilots from UK had arrived Nigeria for the exercise two days ago, and will be around for 3 weeks to carry out the calibration exercise.
During the period, Nigerian crew are expected to undergo On the Job Training (OJT) as the exercise progresses.
