What is responsible for most air crashes? Human factor, says Managing Director of Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) Nnamdi Udoh. A tested hand, Udoh, in this interview with Group Business Editor AYODELE AMINU in Beijing, China, also speaks on why Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s plane was delayed in Akure, Ondo State in April; the Federal Government’s efforts to digitalise control towers; ongoing remodelling of airports and reviewing the rules that guide the industry for effective regulation and operations.
What is your succession plan for the agency, to allow the younger ones take over as Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) because your ATCs are aging? Are there communication challenges with the radio system in the airspace? Was the radio system downgraded at anytime?
There was never a time the radio system was downgraded purposely. Let me give you a scenario, in time past when the pilot takes off from Lagos to Port Harcourt, he communicates through Ibadan, Benin, Warri and then Port Harcourt, but today, he only talks to Lagos and Port Harcourt because we have long range Very High Frequency (VHF) that is available and it is operated through what we call a Remote Control Air to Ground (RCAG) equipment. The project came on board when we had the European Union (EU) technical support programme using a satellite technology, and then we started the Total VHF of Nigeria airspace – meaning that technology is changing. What that also means is that we have a frequency in PH, 1273, Lagos and Abuja all linked together. So, when the pilot takes off from PH, the ATC will simply say, bye to the pilot and pronto the pilot will be talking to Lagos; so there is nothing like “l can’t get Lagos on radio”.
During the period we were installing the technology, there were challenges, but they were not deliberate because we cannot shut down the airspace because the planes fly every day. It is like you are painting your house and you have to move some furniture out here and there; we kept explaining this to people but it was so badly presented. What we needed to do was to remain focused and finish the job because all the pilots needed to do and were doing was call 1273, which is the main frequency East Lagos or 1209 for Lagos West. We called that sectorisation because; for instance, when 50 planes began to fly at a time from the South-west of Nigeria and 28 from the Southeast and others from different countries and other airports within the country, there is no way one air traffic controller can handle it; that is why we sectorised. And we can do that even up to six sectors. That is why an ATC can stay in Zurich and manage the entire European airspace. That is what the focus will be in another five to 10 years, where we will have multiplicity of radio communication frequencies.
How do you deal with compliance by pilots who are overworked by the airlines because it also boils down to safety?
This is the responsibility of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), but let me tell you categorically that there is an approved known flying hour for every aircraft and for every pilot for all the national civil aviation authority. No pilot can exceed his working hours. If you do that, it is at your own risk and when the authority finds out, you are sanctioned, so no pilot can officially say he is overworked. The licence he is carrying gives him the authority. That is why he is captain and commander of the plane. Most pilots you see not flying have perhaps failed medical test; that is the only instance when pilots are disallowed from flying. So, why will anyone want to stress himself when he knows he has not had enough crew rest? That is why international airlines will fly into Nigeria, another crew will come and take the plane and fly it back to the next airport of destination.
What is happening to rescue operations in Nigeria taking into cognisance the recent crash in San Francisco and looking at what happened at the Iju plane crash?
The environment aids rescue operations. The scenarios here are two different places: airport and those outside the airport environment. We have had a KLM crash into a building in Amsterdam, how many people did you recover? It also depends on the impact the plane made with the ground. By the time the plane made impact with the ground, the passengers on that Dana flight were all dead from the height of stall. In the other case (the recent San Francisco crash) you saw a plane that is one second from landing stalling, it became like football but the emergencies were already on ground there. That was why it took us up to 20 minutes to get to Iju because the plane was being expected and on crashing there was an alarm button. The man didn’t tell us he has crashed, we saw him crashing because he disappeared from the radar. All the ATC on duty needed to do was press an alarm button and once that is done, there is a sequence of order to be followed, airports, Lagos State Fire Service, the army, police and all others have to be notified and mobilised.
There are lot of sequences to be followed and I tell you, Iju had been our best response so far in emergency in time of response and getting to the site. But the other aspect was that the public being informed enough not to take over the scene. That hindered us from getting there in good time, at least to have remedied those who burnt subsequently. You noticed that anytime a plane crashed in a congested place, it was always disastrous.
What is the progress report of the aviation industry?
There is a lot going on in the aviation industry. You will notice that in the various presentations we made in the industry in the last one year, we talked about airport remodelling, the improvement of NAMA, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), the various regulatory functions of the NCAA and customer bill of rights. Then we narrowed it down to the main attraction, which is customer satisfaction that comes from the airport and the airlines.
No matter how good the airspace is, if the passengers are not secure, safe and comfortable, it definitely becomes a thing of concern. All aviation issues are like a chain of issues, so we have to solve them link by link.
We have been going through the chain of issues in the sector as one big family. Though it’s been quite challenging, with the spirit of transformation blowing across the sector, we have so far dealt with it all together. Dealing with the technical issues and infrastructure, l can tell you, is not difficult. The most difficult is the human factor, the soft issues and management issues.
For us at NAMA, it is about air traffic control tower, resource management and the synergy that is required to manage all the problem that arise in air traffic management. Outside that, l will say it has been a win-win situation; we have seen quick wins in the process and also successes on the long-term issues.
How has the latest development in NAMA (radar coverage) enhanced flight in terms of timing and safety?
Firstly, as a chief executive of NAMA, l do not believe l should tell my story. It is the airspace users and customers that should do that. But, specifically, the area radar, which came into effect about two months ago, is the final result of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) and you will recall also that we remain focused. We persevered in order to deliver that project because it has with it so many communication power, air traffic management and engineering capabilities that come with it. All it points to is that the airspace is as safe as any other airspace in the world and our air traffic management is the ultimate. Everybody looked towards a total radar coverage environment, a sort of surveillance of where communication between the pilots and the air traffic controllers is seamless. The air traffic controller doesn’t need the pilot to tell him where he is or what he is going to do; rather, the pilot has already predetermined his route, so the job of the controller is to give the pilots proper navigation by vectoring him through various coordinates; that makes the airspace a seamless one.
Now, a flight time that used to be one hour, 10 minutes or one hour 15 minutes is done in 45 to 50 minutes. We are also working harder to further reduce flight time between Lagos and Abuja; and Port Harcourt and Lagos and create a more no-talking environment for the controller and the pilots. The pilot in this instance gets air traffic clearance even while he is taxing to take off, so immediately he gets airborne, he already knows at what point to descend, to call and report final with his destination because the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) is looking at you. If he gives you ‘maintain flight level 210’, the pilot may request, ‘Oh, let me go to 220 or 230’. This is possible because you know someone is looking at the pilot; that is why it is called surveillance; it is security and safety at its optimum level in the air.
So, how was NAMA able to achieve that?
Firstly, for a procedurally air traffic control, the spacing between aircraft that are taking off is normally between five and 10 minutes. In other words, if four aircraft are taking off, you give them a space time of about five to 10 minutes interval, which could sum up to more than 20 minutes but with the area radar, you can comfortably space them at two to three minutes interval, which is referred to as separation minima. Instead of taking 20 minutes, you have less than 10 minutes among the four planes. If you go to Heathrow (in London), it is like a minute in between them, you can’t do that without an appropriate technology called a radar and that is what we now have, which modern science calls surveillance.
With the technology you do communication and aircraft separation, weather monitoring, aircraft monitoring etc. By so doing, you save the airline fuel and time. That is comfortable for pilots and safe for passengers because the radar will see the condition of the weather and the ATC will direct you away from potential dangerous routes.
We have been here in China for three days and it is raining and you still see flights taking off and landing. Under normal circumstances you can’t do that. For example, it can be raining in Ikeja and not raining in Ikoyi or Mile 2 in Lagos; so all the ATC will do is take the aircraft and circumvent it through safe weather.
In Nigeria today, we have the Doppler weather radar, which is managed by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), that predicts weather conditions, especially low-level wind shear that can disrupt flights. NIMET gathers information on weather conditions and gives it to NAMA, which disseminates it to pilots and we also put it in an automotive system called Automatic Weather Information System (AWIS), a terminal information system. So, the pilot keeps seeing that on his equipment, he doesn’t need to wait for the ATC again to give him information update; the only thing he needs is the temperature information from the ATC for him to set his instrument and starts his engine. Before he takes off, the ATC will have to determine his route from his radar, he will then instruct the pilot where to follow to avoid inclement weather.
Sometimes because of the weather it takes you a little longer in arriving at your destination because the pilot may be asked to move farther away from the areas where the weather is severe but without that, you definitely will save time. So, we could see the effect of such technology on air travelling, saving time and reducing the carbon dioxide emission as well as improving safety in flight.
Without prejudice to the San Francisco recent crash, it is human factor, we don’t call it error because the man is a trainee who already had 45 hours flight experience on that aircraft but ordinary approach speed stalled the aircraft. Again if the Iju crash of Dana Air had happened somewhere, the story would have been different but at the end of the day, you notice that you cannot beat technology; you cannot beat the soft ends, which are the human being that must operate these things. Now we have paperless control tower. We only use stylus electronically to write, it is the most efficient modern equipment anywhere in the world but those managing it must continue to receive training.
So, how have all these safety nets contributed to the growth of the economy?
Any airline coming into Nigeria must first come and do a survey and determine the kind of aeroplane it will deploy on the route. If you have a small runway and you don’t have a radar and other landing equipment, why go and bring a jumbo Boeing 747 to do an approach into a runway that is less than 1700. But with a runway that is more than three kilometres like ours, British Airways can come with a B747 carrying 540 passengers. That was the figure taken out through Kano and Maiduguri recently on Umrah because we have the infrastructure to air lift that volume of people. Many years ago they would have flown an F-28; that is why we are extending the terminals and building more because the people will definitely be attracted to it.
Most people travel to Dubai because the shopping malls are within the airports and there is a comfortable immigration regime. I arrived Dubai at 33 hours to my flight and they gave me a visa to go and stay in a hotel. That is the way an economy should run. We need to do that to boost our own economy.
Mr President has just announced that Chinese investors coming to Nigeria should be offered up to 10 years’ visa, our visa to this place is only three months. If I have five-year visa, I will love to come here in the next six months to spend my money, thus adding values to the economy. When we look at the multiplier effect, it is enormous. You will see at the end of the day, instead of well-wishers waiting for passengers outside, they will be made to come into the terminals and sit and spend money at the shopping malls, eateries etc.
Let’s talk about the airfield lighting. Airlines complain of limited operations due to the absence of airfield lighting at some airports. This limits the affected airports to day light operation. You recall the Akure controversy? What is your take on this?
For the purpose of this interview, let me make it clear that the Akure issue was not that of delay, or flying into the night or airfield lighting. We hold the pilot of the plane into Akure solely, completely and entirely responsible for his actions, because he didn’t declare the manifest of that flight. Akure airport is advertised as one without airfield lighting. So, if you are going there, you are fully persuaded that you are going there to leave before sunset. End of story!
If I travel anywhere l have one entry visa and l decide to go into the country and when coming back, I have already determined my fate that I want to be allowed to enter. Secondly, what is the difference between an emergency, which we have deployed at some runways and a conventional lighting system? That is the difference between your generator and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN)? One is that you manage one yourself while the other is managed by a company elsewhere. The difference between the two lights is that we can move the emergency lighting system to another airport. If you go to a country, such as Chile, her Air Force does not use the conventional lighting system because it is cheaper for them to maintain the emergency one, which is a rechargeable system. Since we installed it on the Runway 18L of the Lagos Airport, pilots have commended it because it is cheaper, easy to operate and to maintain. All we need to do is have our logistic in place to recharge the cycle.
Is the emergency lighting system available in the entire airport without the conventional lighting system?
No! We have told all the airlines that all the airports in Nigeria are available 24 hours. Tell us when and how you want to go to the airport. You don’t go to Akure at 10 pm once in a year and expect the government to invest N1 billion that it could use to do others that are having 10 aeroplanes at night in providing the light. Definitely, the airport will get its own, but it is not on the first priority list. Owerri and Calabar have theirs. Benin and Sokoto have been awarded and the projects are going on just like the minister said.
If, for any reason, there is a request for evacuation or cargo operations for any of these airports that has problem with its lighting system, we simply move the emergency ones there and the plan is to have the third level redundancy. That is the conventional, solar powered and the rechargeable all together.
Because of many years of neglect and decay, people have not prepared themselves for the transformation that is going on. So, many people do not know the changes taking place and what has been achieved so far. People are getting enlightened and the ways and means these things are also provided have become sophisticated as well. That is why I don’t have to wait to have N5 billion to have the conventional lighting system when technology has provided a much cheaper one for us to buy and deploy.
What about training on these high tech equipment and facilities?
First is that, every ATC today must have knowledge of the computer system because the system is a Linux-based to work on the radar as the tech are designed that way. For them to know their simulator, they go through a computer-based training, You must be trainable, that was why we reduced the ATC at a time and it took us time to train them abroad and they are all deployed now.
It is alleged that there is internal wrangling among the staff. What is your take on this?
The summary of it is human factor. People are coming from an analogue environment to a digital one. The man, who is finding it difficult to be computer literate, will surely complain when you make him to go through a computer-based training in order for him to clock hours after 15 to 25 years he has been controlling aeroplane.
You are beginning to see some calmness because we have continued to persevere, retreat and educate them. It is about 18 to 20 months now, anybody who can’t fit in, the person won’t be sacked, that the person knows he or she can’t simply fit in so the best option is to retire. The system is regulating itself. Why do you think that over the years, it is difficult to run the hospitals and fix the bad roads? It is all human factors; that is why I called it the soft ends of the environment … the culture and behavioural pattern of the workers in place. We, in NAMA, have also gone as far as addressing our dressing culture.
How do you see the agency in the last two years?
It has been a consistent process of transformation. It is a chain of problems inherited and we are doing it link by link. There is no one that will say it is NAMA or FAAN-related problem; we are tackling them holistically.
