AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT

HELLO! You are welcome to the blog.

On today’s post, we shall be discussing, air traffic control and its management. 

I am sure a lot of you must have had a contact with this sector before, or better put a relation with their duties and control.

They are credited as  one of the factors why that plane you see flying over your head has not collided into another or has gone lost in transit.

You might wonder, how would they go missing in transit? This is very possible in a case where some extenuating factors frustrate the interference of the air traffic control.

You must note, that not everyone is given a licence to operate in this department, the primary Authority in Nigeria, which regulates the Aviation Sector, in this case, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority must have issued this licence to the holder with a rating for the function and an endorsement for the place where, or the airspace in relation to which, he or she carries it out.. This can be found under part 14.1.33.2 

Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a Country above its territory, including its territorial waters, or more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace which is the general term for earth’s atmosphere and the outer space in its vicinity.

Air traffic management is an aviation term encompassing all systems that assist aircraft to depart from an aerodrome, transit airspace, and land at a destination aerodrome, including Air Traffic Services (ATS), Airspace Management (ASM), and Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management (ATFCM). The International Civil Aviation Organization has developed the Aviation System Block Upgrade initiative in order to harmonize global planning of technology upgrades due to the many Air Navigation Service Providers who do not provide an ATC service that matches the capabilities of modern aircraft.

Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airspace. The primary purpose of the ATC  worldwide is to prevent collisions, organize and expedite the flow of air traffic, and provide information and other support for pilots.

Part 14 of the Nig. Civil Aviation Regulation provides for air traffic services which include; designation of airspace, designation of control area, flight information regions, establishment and identification of ATS Routes, responsibility for control of air traffic and other related matters.

It also goes ahead to define air traffic  management as the dynamic, integrated management of air traffic and airspace (including air traffic services, airspace management and air traffic flow management)-safely, economically and efficiently-through the provision of facilities and seamless services in collaboration with all parties and involving airborne and ground-based functions.

Air traffic control services are provided by the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority. The Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations make extensive provisions for air traffic control and require a pilot in command to request and obtain air traffic control clearance through the submission of a flight plan to an air traffic control facility before operating a controlled flight or a portion of a controlled flight. The regulations also require the pilot in command to inform air traffic control of his or her scheduled path and maintain two-way communication at all times. The pilot is prohibited from deviating from air traffic control instructions except in an emergency.

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) was established by the Nigerian government in 1999. The organization is responsible for the provision of air navigation services throughout the Nigerian Flight Information Region. This included at the country’s 25 towered airports and at its two air traffic control centres. The agency provides air traffic control, air navigation, charting and consulting services which they strive to develop in line with the requirements of the ICAO standards and recommended practices.

Airspace management prevents mutual interference from all users of the airspace facilitates air defence identification, and accommodates the flow of all air traffic safely. The responsibility for the control of all aircraft operating within a given block of airspace shall be vested in a single air traffic control unit. However, control of an aircraft or groups of aircraft may be delegated to other air traffic control units provided that coordination between all air traffic control units concerned are assured.

Air control is also responsible for the active runway surfaces. Air control clears aircraft for takeoff or landing, ensuring that prescribed runway separation will exist at all times. If the air traffic controller detects any unsafe conditions, a landing aircraft may be instructed to go-around and be re-sequenced into the landing pattern which may be handled by the air controller, approach or terminal area controller.

A highly disciplined communications process between the air control and ground control is an absolute necessity. Air control must ensure that ground control is aware of any operations that will impact the taxiways, and work with the approach radar controllers to create ‘gaps’ in the arrival traffic to allow taxing traffic to cross runways and to allow departing aircraft to take off.

Basically, the operational concept of global air traffic management requires total system performance on safety, regularity, efficiency, autonomy of flight, situational awareness, separation assurance, collision avoidance, optimization of traffic flows, air traffic management regional concept and certification and quality assurance.

Other airspace areas include:

1.      Local Airport Advisory

2.      Military Training Route (MTR)

3.      Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR)

4.      Parachute Jump Aircraft Operations

5.      Published VFR Routes

6.      Terminal Radar Service Area (TRSA)

7.      National Security Area (NSA)

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AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION

Hello and welcome to the blog!

In today’s post, we are going to be discussing aircraft registers; which preconceives that there would have been a purchase of an aircraft and an application made to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority for proper documentation as prescribed by the enabling registration.

(You can also refer to a previous post on the licensing and registration requirements in Nigeria).

A person who wishes to register an aircraft in Nigeria shall apply to the authority for aircraft registration by submitting a duly completed prescribed application form: AC-AWS 001A to the authority. Registration acceptance application is accepted only for aircraft of a type that is acceptable to the authority. Refer to the technical library of the NCAA for further instructions.

Under Part 2 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations, an aircraft is eligible for registration in Nigeria if it is owned by a citizen, permanent resident, corporation doing business in Nigeria, a Nigerian government entity or has been leased to one of the aforementioned. The aircraft must not be registered under the laws of any other state and must not be more than 22 years old, subject to an exception for aircraft used exclusively for general aviation purposes. A person wishing to register an aircraft must submit an application with supporting documents to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.

Every civil aircraft must be marked prominently on its exterior by an alphanumeric string, indicating its country of registration and its unique serial number. This code must also appear in its certificate of registration, issued by the relevant National Aviation Authority. An aircraft can only have one registration in one jurisdiction. This is also in line with the Convention on International Civil Aviation (also known as the Chicago Convention). Most countries also require the registration identifier to be imprinted on a permanent fireproof plate mounted on the fuselage in case of a post-fire/post-crash aircraft accident investigation.

There is no register of aircraft mortgages, encumbrances and other interests. The regulations provide that the authority must establish and maintain Legal Interests in Aircraft Registry, which for each aircraft registered in Nigeria, lists proprietary rights, interests, liens and other dealings. However, there is no such registry as yet. Such interests can be registered when applying for registration.

As Nigeria is a party to the Geneva Convention (Convention on the International Recognition of Rights in Aircraft 1948) and the Cape Town Convention (Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment 2001), all rights of property in aircraft and mobile equipment and other interests are recognized.

On completion of the evaluation of a successful document, the airworthiness inspector issues the aircraft acceptance for registration. No aircraft shall be registered without a registration acceptance note issued by the authority.

                                            

What rules and procedures govern the detention of aircraft?

Most often, aircraft are registered in the jurisdiction in which the Carrier is resident or based. Carriers in emerging markets may be required to register aircraft in an offshore jurisdiction where they are leased or purchased but financed by banks in major onshore financial centres. The financing institution may be reluctant to allow the aircraft to be registered in the carrier’s home country ( either because it does not have sufficient regulation governing civil aviation, or because it feels the courts in that Country would not cooperate fully if it needed to enforce any security interest over the aircraft), and the carrier is reluctant to have the aircraft registered in the financier’s jurisdiction (often the united states or the United kingdom) either because of personal or political reasons or because of fear of spurious lawsuits and potential arrest of the aircraft.

Section 27(3) of the Civil Aviation Act gives the "Authority the power to take all steps reasonably necessary, including the power to ground any aircraft in order to ensure compliance with the Act."


Section 52 provides for detention of a foreign aircraft on the basis of" infringement of certain intellectual property entitled to protection in Nigeria until the owner makes a deposit."

The tribunal and the procedure is set by the Minister of aviation.

Pursuant to the specific power granted under Section 53 of the act, Rule 1.3.3.4 of the regulations provide that an "Aircraft which is involved in a violation for which a civil penalty has been imposed or may be imposed on its owner or operator may be subject to detention by the Authority in accordance with its enforcement procedures."

Schedule 5 of the Act incorporates the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, which recognizes (Article 39) on the right of a State entity, inter-governmental organization or any other private provider of public services to arrest or detain an object under the law of that state for payment of amounts owed to such entity, organization or provider, directly relating to those services in respect of that object or another object.

What rules and procedures govern aircraft safety and maintenance?

Part 2 of the Regulations provides for personnel licensing requirements for maintenance engineers, while Part 3 regulates approved training for maintenance personnel. Part 5 prescribes regulations on airworthiness, as well as aircraft maintenance and inspection.  

Under Part 5, all aircraft registered in Nigeria or operating within Nigeria must receive a certificate of airworthiness on application to the authority. Aircraft that are not airworthy are ineligible for operations. Part 5 also includes requirements for maintaining an aircraft in an airworthy condition. Persons are prohibited from performing maintenance, preventive maintenance or modifications on an aircraft other than as prescribed in the regulations. Certain failures, malfunctions and defects must be reported by owners or operators of aircraft to the authority. All aircraft must be maintained in accordance with an approved maintenance programme. The regulations also regulate persons authorized to perform inspections and require the keeping of maintenance and inspection records in a prescribed form. Part 6 provides for the registration and monitoring of approved maintenance organizations in Nigeria.

NCAA shall notify the CAA of the country of registration about the aircraft’s operation in Nigeria, after which, they shall meet and sign an agreement for the safety oversight of the aircraft which should be facilitated by the operator. In addition, details of a failure, or any incident (including foreign body ingestion into the engine), which requires unscheduled maintenance action. In case of incidents or accidents occurring which require investigation while the aircraft is operating in Nigeria, the state shall participate with its representatives on the investigation committee, in accordance with the provisions of ICAO Annex 13.

During the course of fact-finding, relevant information was obtained from the public website of the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority. Please note that this information is subject to change.

Share your thoughts by leaving your questions, comments and suggestions in the comment box. Thank you for taking the time out to read and share this post.

 

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