Air Mishap Averted In Calabar

         Calabar air mishap caused by ATC, says Omotoba  

 
The air collision averted at the Calabar Airport last Friday was caused by an Air Traffic controller who mistakenly asked the two aircrafts involved to descend and ascend to the same 21,000 feet, Minister of Aviation, Babatunde Omotoba said yesterday in Abuja.

Addressing State House correspondents, the minister explained that it was the TCAS equipment installed on the aircrafts that enabled one of them to detect that the other was on a collision course with it.

“This is a very good forum for me to assure Nigerians that Nigeria’s airspace is safe. Last Friday, there was an air mishap over Port Harcourt, an aircraft was taking off from Calabar, while another one was coming to land in Calabar, and they were about to collide over Port Harcourt. Our investigations revealed that it was due to air traffic controller error. The ATC, when we looked at his log book, actually asked the pilot that was coming to land to descend to a level of 21,000 feet, whereas what he put down on his log was 25,000 feet. And then he also asked the one which was taking off to Lagos to stay at 21,000feet, so they had to cross path”, he stated.

“What saved the situation was the line of defence we have in our airspace. On every aircraft in Nigeria we have what we call Traffic Collision Avoidance System. So one of the aircraft was able to notice that an aircraft was coming very close to it, and then it decided to come down 5000 feet to ensure there was no collision. So we are happy to discover that there was no collision, and the TCAS that was put on our aircraft is working, otherwise it would have been disastrous on Friday. Now, we have grounded the two aircraft, we have called the crew, there is investigation going on between NCAA and NAMA. The first meeting was held on November 3, and then we also got all the ATC’s tape, as well as the log book. It was from there that we realized that it was ATC error”, he said further.

Omotoba said the ATC who made the mistake has been suspended while his supervisor has been queried. He explained that investigations into the incident would continue so that “we will be able to know more very soon.”
 
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