The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has cautioned airline operators to be careful in their operations as it predicted March to June 2019 as the commencement of rainy season in the Southern and Northern parts of Nigeria.
The season, according to NINET is usually accompanied with turbulence.
The agency says the period is also laced with micro-burst, low level wind share and sometimes events that could affect the safety of flight operations.
A micro-burst is an intense small-scale downdraft produced by a thunderstorm or rain shower.
With this information, it is expected that Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) may temporarily close the airspace when there are adverse weather conditions.
NIMET further cautioned that the situation could be particularly dangerous to aircraft especially during landing, due to the wind shear caused by its gust front.
Several fatal and historic crashes have been attributed to the phenomenon over the past several decades, and flight crew training goes to great lengths on how to properly recover from a micro-burst/wind shear event.
The agency further advised Flight Crews, Operators and ATC personnel to ensure strict adherence to aerodrome operating minima in line with standard and recommend practices.”
It also admonishes pilots to exercise maximum restraint whenever severe weather condition is observed or forecast by NIMET.
A statement by spokesman for NCAA, Sam Adurogboye stated that for the purpose of safe flight operations, pilots and flight crew members 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.
By Gboyega Adeoye
