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The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) says it has concluded plans to install Category 3 Instrument Landing System (ILS) in three airports in the country to improve air safety in the aerodromes.
Mr. Lawrence Pwajok, Acting Managing Director, NAMA
Mr. Lawrence Pwajok, Acting Managing Director of NAMA, reveals that Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, Port-Harcourt International Airport, and the Katsina Airport are the airports to benefit from the air safety tools.
Mr. Pwajok states that the move would increase the number of the airports that had Category 3 ILS in the country to five.
According to Mr. Pwajok, an instrument landing system is a piece of navigational equipment that provides lateral guidance for an aircraft, sky guidance for the aircraft, and longitudinal guidance for the aircraft when coming into landing.
“Navigational facility is one of the very critical requirements for access into an airport safely, efficiently, and economically. We place a very high premium on the procurement and installation of navigational equipment,” Mr. Pwajok adds.
“Over the last five years, we have deployed significantly a large number of navigational equipment. Currently, we have installed what we call Category 3 Instrument Landing System (ILS), in Lagos and Abuja. We are also planning to install additional ones in Kano, Port Harcourt, and Katsina,” Mr. Pwajok adds.
The NAMA boss, who explained that Category 3 landing system was the highest category for landing facility anywhere in the world, said that the government was set to invest heavily to ensure all the nation’s international airports had it. Pwajok said that the lighting system would complement Category 3.
He states that a Category 3 approach system was required to guide the pilot using the instrument landing system. “Currently, we have installed an instrument landing system of Category 2 that requires what we call low visibility operations. “In operation, where the visibility is below 800 meters and not lower than 300 meters, we use what we call a Category 2 instrument landing system
“For a Category 1 instrument landing system, which is few, you need 800 meters visibility or more. That is, visibility must be about 1km (1000m) for you to be able to do a Catigory1 landing system, the lowest of the three categories,” Mr. Pwajok continues.
“For Category 3, when the aircraft and the flight crew are adequately certified for it, with the visual lighting system available, you can basically land in zero visibility, “he said.