The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA,) has granted aviation height clearance certificates to about 45,00p high structure across the country, towards safe air travel.
The Acting Director-General of NCAA Captain, Captain Chris Najomo, disclosed this at the weekend in Ilorin, Kwara State.
Represented by the Director, Aerodrome and Airspace Standards, Engineer Balang Godwin at the workshop on Aviation Height Clearance (AHC), Najomo said: “regulatory control of high structures in the navigable airspace of Nigeria is important to safety of air travel in our nation.”
According to him, indiscriminate erections of high structures pose significant risk to aircraft during take off, landing and manoeuvring, 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,” he said.
He added that a large number of the structures would have constituted obstructions to air navigation and made the country’s aerodrome unsafe and, in some cases, unsuitable for flight operations.
He expressed confidence 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 facilitator of the workshop, the MD/CEO Delara Aviation Training & Consulting Limited, Mrs. Shin-Aba Victoria said: “the importance of ensuring safe and efficient air travel cannot be overstated, and obstacle control plays a vital role in achieving this goal.”
She assured that the facilitators are well experienced, and, “the program have been carefully designed to meet the highest standards and guarantee comprehensive knowledge and understanding of issues about aviation height clearance.”
She urged the participants to cooperate with the facilitators to achieve the goal of the workshop which is to ensure in Nigeria airspace safety.
The coordinator of the workshop, Dr. Paul Ajakaye, later told journalists that the main objective of the workshop is to enhance the competency of the inspectors.
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“You’ll notice these days, the presence of masts, towers and other high structures that could constitute obstructions to air navigation ought to be 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,” he stated.
Ajakaiye also explained 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.
In his contribution, the Head of Aviation Height Clearance Unit in NCAA, Mr. Rauf Opeloyeru, said about 150 Inspectors drawn from all over the NCAA regional offices in the country attended the workshop, adding that training is done at all times to ensure that NCAA is above board as the regulatory body for the aviation industry.
Opeloyeru noted that the consultant has assembled very competent facilitators and that the participants are so happy about the knowledge being received.
He posited that most of them have succeeded in increasing the horizon of their knowledge when it comes to aviation height clearance procedures.
“The expectation is that at the end of the workshop, the quality of their work will improve considerably,”he added.
He assured the air passengers that the NCAA is always doing the best to make sure that their safety is guaranteed at all times.
