NAAE President, Engr. Selzing Miri
By Sade Williams
The National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE), at the weekend, explained that Nigerian Airspace Management Agency NAMA) under the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria project (TRACON) project, deployed four Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR) co-located with the Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR) in Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt, and five stand-alone Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR) systems in Ilorin, Obubra, Maiduguri, Talata Mafara and Numan to ensure the effective coverage of the Nigerian airspace by Radar.
The association was reacting to a recent report claiming the Nigerian airspace was not fully covered by Radar.
While describing the claim as misleading and not a true representation of the Nigerian airspace surveillance system, the President of NAAE, Engr. Selzing Miri in a statement made available to journalists, revealed that the five autonomous stations provides Radar data inputs for the four main stations.
According to Miri, contrary to the claims, all the Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR) services were available except that of Kano airport which was unserviceable and undergoing maintenance.
Miri noted that the Very Small Aperture Terminal (V-SAT) network transmits radar data from the nine MSSR stations, adding that it is configured to provide total coverage of Nigerian airspace by the Radar.
“The Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR) which has a range of 65 Nautical Miles is a solid-state S-band radar with a high performance that can operate with dense air traffic situations, within approach or extended approach control areas. It enables reduced separation between aircraft and features a high processing capacity”
“The MSSR with a range of 250NM will provide aircraft range, azimuth, (ground) speed, altitude and identity. The system is multi-functional and extremely robust with capabilities for information on emergencies, radio communication failures and hijack. This negates the claim that the Secondary Radar just provide a sense of positioning that an aircraft is there”
The NAAE boss said apart from enhancing the level of safety, improving efficiency and reducing the probability of human error, the TRACON system has a high degree of reliability and availability.
“With the Primary Surveillance Radar only the position of the aircraft can be determined. It is used mainly around airports for Approach control, and in certain countries for en-route surveillance. The undisputable advantage of the PSR is that it detects all aircraft in range regardless of aircraft on-board equipment”, he said.
He noted that on the other hand, the Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) is used for Approach and En-route surveillance as it detects and positions aircraft and receives additional information such as their identity and altitude.
“Contrary to the PSR, the SSR requires aircraft to be fitted with a transponder onboard. With its continually rotating antenna, the SSR will send out an energy beam which will interrogate aircraft transponder”, he added.
Miri said it is worrisome to focus narrowly on remuneration of certain staff of the agency while undermining the role of the Air Traffic Engineers who are saddled with the responsibilities of installation, maintenance and running of the Communication, Navigation, Surveillance and CNS Power Systems which includes the TRACON and ranked behind in remuneration.
Miri however called on Government, to as a matter of urgency, invest more in the training and retraining of the Air Traffic Engineers, provide adequate spare parts to reduce the down time, with a commensurate remuneration to boost morale of Air Traffic Safety Personnels (ATSEPs) in the Country.
