Missing plane: Professionals call for automation of information equipment

Gboyega Adeoye, Lagos - 12.05.2008

In view of the endless search for the “missing” Beechcraft 1900D aircraft belonging to Wings Aviation for close to two months, a professional group has asked for the enhancement of the Aeronautical Information Service (AIS), directorate of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), for efficient delivery.

The Aeronautical Information Services Association of Nigeria (AISAN) canvassed for this in a release issued over the weekend in Lagos.

In the release signed by AISAN president, Alhaji Yahaya Gusau, the AISAN said though the AIS department in Nigeria was at the verge of being fully automated, there was the need for more proactive measures to be taken to avert similar occurence in future.

The association hinted that the NAMA, in collaboration with the Air Transport Ministry, had recently organised a terrain and obstacle charting meeting to stem the aeronautical information gathering hiccups often encountered in mountainous Niger-Delta region.

“In view of the need for information to reach users on custodian of all aeronautical data essential for the safety of air navigation, there is, therefore, an urgent need to enhance the AIS Directorate to meet up with international standards,” the release stated.

The group believed that a lot of ground would have been covered in identifying the whereabouts of the disappeared aircraft if the AIS Department in Nigeria had been fully automated.