The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has punctured claim by Max Air that the Instrument Landing System (ILS) at the Minna International Airport was not functional resorting in the serious incident involving a 747-400 aircraft conveying 560 pilgrims and 19 crew members from King Abdul-Aziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
There was panic among the pilgrims on Saturday when the aircraft with registration No. 5N-DBK experienced a hard landing at the Minna airport.
The airline had, in a statement by its Director of Flight Operations, Capt. Ibrahim Dili, blamed the incident on weather and the non-functional lightning system at the airport.
The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has however commenced investigation into the incident and advised stakeholders and members of the public against speculating on the causes of the hard landing.
But NAMA through its spokesman, Khalid Emele, explained that the ILS at the Minna airport remains serviceable contrary to the claim by Max Air.
NAMA faulted the statement by Max Air that the ILS at the airport was “epileptic with unreliable signals.”
It said, “While we acknowledge that we have absolute confidence in the ability of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to conduct a thorough investigation (which is ongoing), we are constrained to however put things in proper perspective for the benefit our airspace users and the flying public.
“The reported weather on the day in question was 10km visibility in nil weather.
Secondly, the said Instrument Landing System was successfully calibrated early this year (2019) and there has been no report of non-alignment by the equipment from pilots since then. Other operators that have used the facility after the incident have not complained about the ILS malfunctioning.”
The airspace agency said it had made available other alternative approaches like the Performance Based Navigation (PBN) approach procedures and Very High Omni-directional Radio Range/Distance Measuring Equipment (VOR/DME) approach procedures which are alternatives to the ILS.
It therefore reassured airspace users and the general public that the Nigerian airspace remains safe for air travel.
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