Pilots Warn of Imminent Disaster over Poor Landing Aids

Nigerian pilots have warned of looming tragic accidents at the nation’s airports due to poor, obsolete or lack of critical landing aids.

Some of the pilots who spoke to THISDAY complained of incessant failure of air navigational facilities at airports, the undulating nature of many runways and lack of or obsolete instrument landing system (ILS).

They warned that if no urgent measures were taken to improve these facilities, flight operations would be impaired and the situation would be exacerbated as the rains set in.

Members of Senate Committee on Aviation, who visited Lagos for facility inspection late last year had confirmed the pilots’ complaints and noted that the pilots have consistently complained of their inability to communicate in the Nigerian airspace due to epileptic network radio frequency.

Over the years, the pilots had complained of poor communications between them and Air Traffic Controllers to the extent that at some sections of the airspace there won’t be any communications at all.

THISDAY learnt that besides that Nigeria does not have Category two and three ILS, which could land aircraft in bad weather; most of the existing ILS are either malfunctioning or are epileptic in performance.

With such landing aids, it is difficult to operate flights in the night, said a pilot who spoke to THISDAY, noting that coupled with lack of airfield lighting at most of the airports, “flying in the Nigerian airspace is simply a nightmare and an accident waiting to happen.”

This was corroborated by the controllers who once said in a joint statement that the Instrument Landing System serving the Lagos Runway 18R has been unserviceable for close to three months while the one serving the Second Runway (18L) have been epileptic for more than one month.

“The distance measuring equipment located with the VOR (voice ominidirectional radio range) in Lagos has been out of service for a long time as well. Equipment in many airports including communica-

tion facilities suffers that same fate,” the controllers said.

The pilots who spoke to THISDAY were irked that instead of improving, the landing infrastructure is degenerating “because anyone that breaks down never gets repaired and when air crash happens, government will set up a committee and a task force. We cannot continue like this,” said a pilot who spoke to THISDAY on condition of anonymity.

The pilots complained severely about the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Runway 18L, known as the domestic runway and noted that after the facility was rehabilitated few years ago, it still lacked basic amenities that aircraft no longer arrive at the runway from 6:00 pm due to inadequate airfield lighting and other aids; yet, the runway is one of the busiest in the country.