Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has deployed two Jotron high-powered very high frequency (VHF) long-range communication radios in Lagos West and Lagos East Area Control Centres (ACCs), its Managing Director Captain Fola Akinkuotu has disclosed.

According to Akinkuotu, the  equipment installation last week  culminated into successful Site Acceptance Test (SAT) carried out by NAMA engineers in conjunction with their counterparts from Jotron AS, Norway.

The facility, he said,  was deployed by the airspace agency as part of its  pledge to address Remote Control Air to Ground (RCAG) communication challenges in the upper airspace.

Speaking during the SAT, Capt. Akinkuotu said:  “In accordance with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations, it is incumbent on Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) like NAMA to facilitate safe airways, safe separations and also provide critical fall-back plans for airspace users and that is the essence of this project.”

He described the stand-alone radios as a robust solution for emergency/backup coverage in unexpected circumstances ; INCLUDING  when there is technical failures or during routine maintenance of the main RCAG system.

He said: “Test transmission has been conducted on the system by air traffic control officers with aircraft flying at different flight levels just as contacts have been established for a distance of up to 220 nautical miles at different flying levels of the upper airspace and this conforms with the VHF propagation predictions submitted for scrutiny during the design phase of the project.”