20th February, 2022
By Gabriel Agbeja
The Federal Government said it is ready to install Category 3 Instrument Landing System (ISL) in Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Port Harcourt International Airport and Katsina Airport.
Mr Mathew Pwajok, the Acting Managing Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), disclosed this when he featured during the week at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum.
According to him, the move would increase the number of the airports that had Category 3 ISL in the country to five.
“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.
“Over the last five years, we have deployed significantly a large number of navigational equipment. I can go through some of them by justifying my statement.
“ 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, “ he said.
Pwajok, 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.
He said that the Category 3 approach system was required to guide the pilot using the instrument landing system and would complement the lighting system.
“ Currently, we have installed an instrument landing system of Category 2 that requires what we call low visibility operations.
“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.
“For Category 3, when the aircraft and the flight crew are adequately certified for it, with the visual lighting system available, you can land in zero visibility, “ he said.
He said Category 2 ILS was installed in Sokoto, Kano, Minna, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Yola, Jos, Enugu and Benin airports.
He said that Category 2 ILS was currently being installed in Ilorin, Ibadan and Akure.
He said some state airports such as Gombe, Kebbi, Bayelsa and Anambra had already installed Category 2 ILS.
However, the NAMA boss said the airport in Lafia, which also had Category 2 ILS, had not been opened; had not yet been commissioned.
Pwajok said Categroy1 was in very few airports, adding that the government had planned to replace them with Category 2 ILS.
“We have other equipment that will bring aircraft to the airport and we call them Very High-Frequency Omni-Directional Range (VOR), a ground-based electronic system that provides information for high and low altitude routes and airport approaches.
“The VOR is like a broadcast station. It transmits information. Unlike radio stations where you tune and hear music. For this navigational facility, when you tune it, it gives you directional guidance.
“ It directs you, for example, if you are going to Lagos, it shows you where the direction to Lagos is. So you fly on that flight path.
“And it will also give you the distance to where you are going as well as the distance from where you are coming from, “ he added.
NAN