NCAA Cautions Airline Operators, Pilots Over Stormy Weather

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has cautioned pilots and airline operators flying within  Nigeria’s airspace to be alert against prevalent hazardous weather conditions.

General Manager, Public Affairs,NCAA,Sam Adurogboye,  gave this warning on Sunday in a statement made available to journalists.

Adurogboye said that the warning was contained in an Advisory Circular (AC) with reference no AC: NCAA-AEROMET – 27 addressed to all pilots and airline operators, which was signed by Capt. Muhtart Usman, Director General, NCAA.

He hinted that NIMET had predicted March/April and May/June 2019 as the commencement of rainy season in the Southern and Northern parts of Nigeria, which he said is usually accompanied with turbulence.

This, he said was in addition to microburst, low level windshare and sometimes events that could affect the safety of flight operations.

Adurogbye emphasised that consequently, flight crews, operators and ATCs would ensure strict adherence to aerodrome operating minima in line with standard and recommend practices.

He noted that the AC was sequel to the Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) released for the year 2019 by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET).

“While the authority urges all passengers to exercise patience and understanding during this period as their safety is of utmost importance, stakeholders should ensure strict compliance to safety regulations as violations would be viewed seriously.”

“All pilots are therefore obliged to exercise maximum restraint whenever severe weather condition is observed or forecast by NIMET,” he said.

He called on pilots, flight crew members to should obtain adequate departure, en route and destination weather information and briefing from NIMET aerodrome meteorological offices situated in all the airports prior to flight operations for the purpose of safe flight operations.

He added: “Operators are therefore required to play a key role in ensuring adequate measures are put in place to lessen the effects of the attendant flight delays and cancellations on their passengers as occasioned by this severe weather conditions in accordance with Part 19 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations 2015.

It is expected that Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) may temporarily close the airspace when there were adverse weather conditions.