Yemisi Izuora.
To regularly ensure accuracy and reliability of its facilities across the country, the Nigerian Airspace Management agency (NAMA) has embarked on the routine calibration of navigational aids at airports and en-route stations across Nigeria.
The flight calibration which is being handled by Omni-Blue Aviation Ltd along with their technical partners, Fight Calibration Services Ltd (FCSL) of United Kingdom in collaboration with NAMA engineers will involve the calibration of the agency’s Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), Very High Omni-Directional Radio Range (VOR), Distance Measuring Equipment (DME), Path Approach Precision Indicators (PAPI) and Communication Radio Coverage across the nation.
The exercise will also involve the flight commissioning of a newly installed Instrument Landing System and Distance Measuring Equipment. Commenting on the calibration exercise, the Chief Flight Inspector of FCSL, Mr Nick Whitehouse said the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has requirements for landing systems and that the signaling space must be suitable for the aircraft to lock on, adding that their mission was to measure these navigational aids through specific flight profiles to ensure the accuracy and precision of signals to airspace users. The calibration team which began work in Owerri has so far covered Enugu, Calabar, Ilorin as well as Lagos, and is expected to proceed to other parts of Nigeria in the coming days.