Nigerian pilots use GSM phones to contact Control Tower


THESE are not the best of time for the aviation industry in Nigeria. The missing Beechcraft 1900 D has provoked the discussion about the safety of the aviation industry.

Coming at a time sagging public confidence in air travel was restored, the missing Beechcraft 1900D aircraft operated by a charier operator, Wings Aviation has raised questions about the safety of the nation’s airspace.


More often than not, relevant aviation authorities have never held back from telling the public that the airspace was safe for flight operations, especially in view of what appeared to be government’s attention on the sector for the first time in many years.


The attention came in the form of the N19.5 billion intervention fund, which spending had generated so much controversy in the past months. However, Vanguard’s encounter with a pilot in the heat of the search for the missing plane revealed that a lot of question marks still hover around the safety of the airspace.


According to the pilot, who preferred anonymity, “pilots fly blind during much of the duration of flights within the country, specially on flights to the Northern parts of the country”.


The pilot said radio communications with ground control tower was not only epileptic, but also completely non-existent in some cases.


Things can really go bad that you have no option but to use your GSM phone to try and reach air traffic controllers on duty,” he said. Some of these problem areas, known as ‘black spots’ were first identified in 2006 by pilots and the authorities promised to address the problem.


Vanguard learnt that most of the radio communication equipment belonging to Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) have become so outdated that they have packed up. Sources close to the agency said some of the equipment in question were installed over decades ago and have not been replaced due to the agency’s financial constraints.


For a pilot flying at a speed of over 700km/hour, using the GSM phone to reach controllers is a distraction which is inimical to safety.


“Sometimes, you try and you cannot get through due to network problem, and at that point you fly blind until you are able to regain contact,” the pilot added. Beyond pilot to controller contacts, there is also the problem of reaching one airport in the country to another as a result of the same pitfall.


Close observers of the industry noted that much of the decay identified by the Air Marshall Paul Dike’s Presidential Committee, set up in the aftermath of Bellview and Sosoliso Airlines’ crashes, were still prevalent, and made case not only for more funding from the government but also for a probe into how the N19.5 billion intervention fund released for upgrade of facilities was spent by relevant aviation agencies.


While pilots are lamenting the inadequacies of navigational facilities for seamless flights, airline operators on their part are counting their losses on account of the same problem. It was learnt that because the radar in most of the airports in the country were not in serviceable state, air traffic controllers have devised the means of separating aircraft only by horizontal methods to avoid collision.


While it is moreconvenient for the controllers to do so because of their inability to separate vertically as a result of absence of radar or where available, ineffective, operators are counting their losses in the volume of fuel consumed by aircraft in the form of added time the aircraft spent in thee air flying horizontally.


A pilot confirmed that as a result of the problem, he now covers in 90 minutes a journey he should have spent 60 minutes.


He continued: “What you have now is a situation where air traffic controllers separates aircraft horizontally to avoid collision.


To do this, so many aircraft are spread in the air at the same time and to avoid collision, we are made to go round and round to get to your destination. Consequently, you spend much more time that you would have spent to arrive at your destination.”


He said the situation could get very bad and precarious if remedies were not effected before the heavy rains come. An operator, who craved anonymity, said airlines were the only entities keeping the aviation industry in the country going, adding that the parastatals who ought to be service providers have failed the sector.


He noted that there were some airports in Nigeria where some airlines have taken it upon themselves to provide facilities to pave way for their operations into such airports. “Look, our airport charges are about the highest in the world and yet you don’t get value for money. We are going through a lot to be able to fly in this country.


We, as airlines, have always been responsible; for once, let the agencies show that they are also responsible,” said the operator, who advised the Minister of Air Transport, Mr. Felix Hassan Hyat, to be mindful of his officials in the ministry and parastatals to avoid being misled.


Experts believe that the nation could have been spared all these agony had succeeding governments in the country invested in the sector, considered the very key to jump-starting the economy for growth. According to them, the total radar coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) embarked upon by Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) in 2003 would have addressed all of these had it been completed and deployed into full use.


With TRACON, the nation’s entire airspace is covered and air traffic control is made seamless, as the equipment is fitted with both primary and secondary radar system that do not only facilitate air traffic control, but also ensure that any object that strays into the airspace anywhere in the country is detected.


NAMA’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Supo Atobatele, who confirmed that his agency was having problems with radio communication with pilots in the Northern region of the country, on take off from Lagos, said the agency was addressing the problem.


He said the problem had been a recurring one for NAMA, adding, that informed the reason it recently acquired 15 VHP radio communication equipment to nip the problem in the bud. According to him, the equipment will be installed very shortly.


“ We are aware of the problem, but we are addressing it. Don’t forget that the existing radio equipment have been there for decades and because past governments have never really shown interests in the development of the aviation sector, we are where we are.


But what is important is we are addressing the issue,” He said NAMA was determined to make the airspace a friendly one for all users, but lamented the drawback paucity of funds was causing the agency.


Atobatele made reference to TRACON which the agency, in its determination to make things better, started in 2003, but couldn’t be completed due to lack of finance, compounded by frequent change of the agency’s chief executives.


The NAMA spokesman said the agency had so far expended over N27 million Euros on the project, while it needed about 40 million Euros more to complete the project meant to be installed at the nation’s four international airports - Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt, with the entire nation as its scope of coverage.


Some experts advised government to take proactive steps now to redress the situation before the raining season comes fully as, according to him, the impact of inadequate navigational facilities is felt more during the wet season, accompanied with bad and storming weather, than the dry season.


This piece becomes more germane because of the inability of the Nigerian pilot to look at his employer in the face and tell him he won’t fly in adverse conditions because of absence of viable platform for them to voice their frustrations against the system.


In other words, airline operators have made unionisation an unpardonable crime for pilots in their employ. To that extent, they can neither fight anti-labour practices by their employers nor challenge openly pitfalls in the industry.



http://odili.net/news/source/2008/mar/29/302.html

this is the same country that wants to have a space program. lol

I couldn't have the time to read this post. Why not be brief?

@Johnny:
No problem!

Recapitulation of the Topic:   Due to original craziness in Nigeria (the Mighty Giant of Africa), Nigerian Pilots are now using GSM phones to contact the control tower.

Control Tower: A Glass house at the airport for the regulators of the air and ground traffic at an airport.

I weep for Nigeria.

The government cannot update air traffic control facilities, but they can award contracts worth bilions of naira to black listed companies.


O!!!!! NIGERIA. By the day,my chances of going back there become more bleak.

GSM phones to contact control towers May the GOOD LORD help us.

Do you mean to say Pilots use GSM to contact the control tower? This is very absurd!!!
Please pray they wont have to connect LOUDSPEAKER at the front of the plane and shout OWA O! MO FE LAND O!! VIRGIN NIGERIA FE WOLE O!!!

Absolute Ludacris no wonder Nigerians can be found in each and every embassy around

The anonymous pilot is either being mischievious or he is plain stupid
Black spots on Ground-to-Air communications system?
And yet he can use his gsm phone which is terrestrial?
Does this communications blackout only happen to Nigerian Pilots?

I do not dispute the fact that there are problems in the aviation industry
But nobody should start maufacturing imaginary problems
Let him take his personal battle somewhere
He is just a scare monger

now that stupid idiot called fani kayode will carry his mouth and start saying rubbish with the rest of the criminals in the aviation sector, hope some ppl are brought to justice soon because i wonder how many more gallons of human blood they need to see wasted before they start taking this as a priority, we have lost innocent children,we have lost a prominent pastor,trad leaders, pathetic

Hello ?  Hello ?  This na Captain Yanga Rat of Money Miss Road Airlines, and I want jist with Control Tawa, say make them do quick give me landing clearance as my fuel don dey finish o.

What ?  I no hear you well o.   You say ya name be Tawa and na rice you dey sell for Oshodi railway line ?   Na which kind nonsense be this.  Na God go punish MTN with all this them so-so wrong connection wey them dey take suffer man pikin for work-place.

No ! no!  no!  no!   I say I wan talk to Control Tawa, not Tawa Oni Rice.   Ok wait me small,  somebody dey flash me.

Hello !  Hello !  Yes sir, I dey hear you now, Ogami.    Na Captain Yanga Rat dey talk so, and the line never through to talk with Control Tawa yet o.  When I call them, na one woman wey call she name Tawa Oni Rice, na she come answer my line before you begin dey flash me sir.

Please o Oga, make you no vex, but why you dey flash me say make I dey use my own credit call you ?   My own credit don waste remain only 300 naira because of how that woman dey waste my time even though she know say she no be Control Tawa, say na wrong number I go mistake press for where I dey look my instrument them,  dey steer this aeroplane with left hand and use my right to hold this handset.

Ok Oga, BUT o this VIP when you say I must to go pick for Ibadan, you sure say all this my Lagos passenger them nogo riot for inside this plane if I come go divert to Ibadan ? Why you no kukuma let me land here for Lagos and discharge all these trouble people before I go come face Ibadan go ?     

Oga, hold on o.  Another call dey enter my phone.   

Hello ? Hello ?    Mama bomboy, sebi I don tell you say make you no dey phone me for work place.   Why all this embarassment now ?  You no know say I dey waste my credit, and na flash my Oga dey flash me for phone, as he self no want to use credit for him hand-set. 

Even self, I done dey suspect say this we salary when dey late again this month, maybe den nogo fit pay am at all, like how as them play us last month sotay I vex go commot the VHF radio for inside my second him aeroplane, go sell am for Alaba market before we manage see chop-money for house.

What ?  Oh, Mama Bomboy, na which kind yeye accuse you come dey accuse me now ?  So already you done de suspect me, ya loving husband, say I go carry my salary go take am dey chook young girl them for inside airport toilet.  So because them give you report say I dey do so before, na so you come dey accuse me say na there all we chop-money dey lost ?    You let me reach home.   I go take bible and Q'ran swear say I no dey even look any woman pass you for this life.    Ok ok ok, Hold on o.  Somebody dey flash me again.  These people no dey shame with them so-so flash, and how as them dey take am waste my credit.

Hello ? Hello ? Hello ?   Oh God.  My credit don kuku come finish now.  You no see trouble ?

Ok Ok.  Today be today.  I go show them say man pass man, and I go land by force now.  Na only God go fit save any mumu pilot when mistake try to land him own plane for my front today o, because I don vex finish, and even my fuel don finish, UPON how as them done dey mix am with Sapele Wata say make e no dey quick finish.  Monkey dey work - Baboon dey chop.

Nonsesense.  This country don tire me.  I must to go find work for Iraq where man pikin nogo dey see all this kind wahala every day.

Abeg First Officer, follow me drop landing gear, and give me Flaps 30.   Na down we dey go so, and no mistake ask me any foolish question if you no want recieve dirty slap wey go leave tyre-mark like Ibadan man own for ya mouth this evening.

Nonesense.  God punish MTN.

lol

lmao nice comedy sketch

Maybe the relevant authorities are waiting for more crashes before they do what ought to have been done.

lets not cover up or dress up the truth to make it look attractive irrespective of the fact that its happened around the world,the one in nigeria is for want of any word to describe it realli sad and pathetic poor innnocent kids,eminent personalities e.t.c how can a pilot contact the control tower with a gsm for christ sakes when billions of naira has been dedicated to the sector if it was a western democracy ppl like fani kayode and the rest of his ilk will have been slammed with a class action suit and manslaughter charges for all these deaths because its directly their fault.

@yanga rat
my guy abe wheres the second part

Yanga Rat!

Yanga Rat:

Abeg First Officer, follow me drop landing gear, and give me Flaps 30. Na down we dey go so, and no mistake ask me any foolish question if you no want recieve dirty slap wey go leave tyre-mark like Ibadan man own for ya mouth this evening.

Nonesense. God punish MTN.

rofl
which way nigeria