Nigeria has successfully conducted a test-flight of the Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) which is projected to reduce airlines’ operational expenses.
In line with this, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) reiterated its resolve to constantly upgrade navigational infrastructure in the country to enhance safety, improve operational efficiency of airlines and increase their profitability in the long-run through reduced operational costs.
The acting Managing Director of NAMA, Matthew Lawrence Pwajok, stated this after a successful test flight of the SBAS flight procedure.
Daily Trust reports that the test flight was conducted in Abuja with the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) using the agency’s calibration aircraft.
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According to a NAMA bulletin, Pwajok expressed confidence that the implementation of SBAS would not only enhance safety, efficiency and capacity of the Air Traffic Management system, but would also increase the efficiency of the airlines through reduced flight time and turnaround time, reduced fuel consumption, reduced workload for both pilots and air traffic controllers and increased profitability over time.
This is just as the NAMA helmsman allayed fears that the agency was phasing out Instrument Landing System.
He recalled that NAMA earlier implemented PBN in 32 airports including military, private, state government as well as federal government airports.
He said, “The whole essence of the SBAS is to improve on the integrity, accuracy, availability and continuity of the PBN signals by deploying a ground infrastructure or a master station that receives signals from several satellites, triangulates them and takes the best location and then broadcast it through a broadcast media globally to be received by any aircraft within that airspace. So, we have done PBN that provides lateral guidance needed to locate an airport but we have gone a step further to improve on it by implementing precision approaches using the satellite provided by Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT).
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