Lack of air safety in Africa haunts pilots

THE critical shortage of air navigation services in Africa remains a key concern for pilots who fly across the continent.

With the flight accident rate highest in Africa, the safety and security of air travel on the continent is a key discussion point at the International Federation of Airline Pilots’ Association (IFALPA) African and Middle Eastern Regional Conference taking place in Windhoek. Yesterday, IFALPA Principal Vice President of Professional Affairs Georg Fongern said many pilots were having to rely on an in-flight broadcasting procedure (commonly known as 1269 whereby pilots in the same airspace remain in contact with each other), when they fly over large areas of Africa where there is no air traffic control.”In 99 per cent of cases it works,” said Fongern, who is a pilot for Lufthansa.”But there is the other one per cent.We have to hope they [other pilots] are listening and are doing the same [remaining in radio contact].”Although only responsible for about three per cent of global air traffic, African airlines are responsible for about 17 per cent of air accidents.The association did not want to name countries, which weren’t doing enough to secure their airspace, but the IFALPA said some countries were jeopardising travel to other African countries whose airspace was well manned.The IFALPA regularly monitors the ground equipment at airports, as well as navigation facilities around the world, and makes requests to countries which fail to comply with international standards to do so.Three months ago, the Namibian Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (Namatca) said the Namibian Government’s failure to upgrade the country’s avionics systems and failure to employ enough staff could jeopardise Namibia’s air safety.Addressing participants at the conference yesterday, Deputy Minister of Works, Transport and Communication Asser Kapere said many developing nations were battling a lack of human resources and finances to improve their aviation systems.But the IFALPA said airlines paid to use airspace and, in the interest of passenger safety, it was expected that these funds would be ploughed back into the industry.”There is no price on safety.It could be the end of an airline,” said IFALPA Regional Vice President Billy Preston.He referred to research conducted by South African Airways a couple of years ago, which revealed that it had spent as much as R2 million during one year in flight charges.The IFALPA said if navigation systems were not improved in Africa, it would create problems for the reduction of vertical separation between aircraft in certain countries.Elsewhere in the world, aircraft already fly at a vertical space of only 1 000 feet apart (as opposed to a previous distance of 4 000 feet) to accommodate more traffic.Kapere said Government intended establishing an autonomous civil aviation authority, run on commercial principles, for the aviation industry.He noted that without a safe and secure aviation structure, Africa and the Middle East could not develop strong trade links.However, the IFALPA expressed caution about the increasing global commercialisation of the aviation industry, saying that it remained imperative that governments kept a strong hand on ensuring that safety and security remained a key focus of the industry.The IFALPA noted yesterday that there was a general lack of communication between airline managements, flight crews and governments.Fongern said there was a certain degree of mistrust between the parties and that it was imperative the pilots were allowed to become more involved in the safety and security aspects of the aviation industry.He said if this did not happen, it would create a bad safety culture.Yesterday, IFALPA Principal Vice President of Professional Affairs Georg Fongern said many pilots were having to rely on an in-flight broadcasting procedure (commonly known as 1269 whereby pilots in the same airspace remain in contact with each other), when they fly over large areas of Africa where there is no air traffic control.”In 99 per cent of cases it works,” said Fongern, who is a pilot for Lufthansa.”But there is the other one per cent.We have to hope they [other pilots] are listening and are doing the same [remaining in radio contact].”Although only responsible for about three per cent of global air traffic, African airlines are responsible for about 17 per cent of air accidents.The association did not want to name countries, which weren’t doing enough to secure their airspace, but the IFALPA said some countries were jeopardising travel to other African countries whose airspace was well manned.The IFALPA regularly monitors the ground equipment at airports, as well as navigation facilities around the world, and makes requests to countries which fail to comply with international standards to do so.Three months ago, the Namibian Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (Namatca) said the Namibian Government’s failure to upgrade the country’s avionics systems and failure to employ enough staff could jeopardise Namibia’s air safety.Addressing participants at the conference yesterday, Deputy Minister of Works, Transport and Communication Asser Kapere said many developing nations were battling a lack of human resources and finances to improve their aviation systems.But the IFALPA said airlines paid to use airspace and, in the interest of passenger safety, it was expected that these funds would be ploughed back into the industry.”There is no price on safety.It could be the end of an airline,” said IFALPA Regional Vice President Billy Preston.He referred to research conducted by South African Airways a couple of years ago, which revealed that it had spent as much as R2 million during one year in flight charges.The IFALPA said if navigation systems were not improved in Africa, it would create problems for the reduction of vertical separation between aircraft in certain countries.Elsewhere in the world, aircraft already fly at a vertical space of only 1 000 feet apart (as opposed to a previous distance of 4 000 feet) to accommodate more traffic.Kapere said Government intended establishing an autonomous civil aviation authority, run on commercial principles, for the aviation industry.He noted that without a safe and secure aviation structure, Africa and the Middle East could not develop strong trade links.However, the IFALPA expressed caution about the increasing global commercialisation of the aviation industry, saying that it remained imperative that governments kept a strong hand on ensuring that safety and security remained a key focus of the industry.The IFALPA noted yesterday that there was a general lack of communication between airline managements, flight crews and governments.Fongern said there was a certain degree of mistrust between the parties and that it was imperative the pilots were allowed to become more involved in the safety and security aspects of the aviation industry.He said if this did not happen, it would create a bad safety culture.