NCAA allays fears over 5G

The Director-General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu, has said the deployment of the 5G is not a cause for concern or threat to air safety in Nigeria.

In a chat with aviation reporters in Lagos on safety issues in the industry, Captain Nuhu explained that, for now, the NCAA was still monitoring the situation and if there were issues that might affect the industry, immediate action would be taken.

The rollout of the fifth-generation mobile network (5G), has kept generating reactions from global experts on the effects it may have on the safety of the aircraft.

It is the opinion of safety experts that the 5G interference with the aircraft’s radio altimeter could prevent engine and braking systems from transitioning to landing mode, which could prevent an aircraft from stopping on the runway.

The airline industry said planes with older altimeters could be susceptible to interference from 5G signals meaning that pilots who are not able to see to land or take off – say in fog or other weather conditions – would not be able to rely on instruments because of possible interference.

Captain Musa said the concern raised about the 5G was interference with aircraft that are being controlled to land.

“There is a critical component called radio altimeter; the spectrum by which this equipment operates is close to that of the 5G. So, they are afraid of interference from the radio altimeter and giving aircraft erroneous indication and it’s during aircraft approach landing when they are about 2,500ft or so above the ground”.

He gives a further explanation why the industry would not entertain any fears as regards the network.

“Usually, it is for flights that are put to land for us in Nigeria, we don’t have an auto-landing authorisation, our flights don’t do auto-landing”.

On the recent lifting of the travel ban by the United Arab Emirate (UAE) on 11 African countries including Nigeria, the NCAA boss said, resumption of flights from that country to Nigeria was yet to be communicated to the Ministry of Aviation.

When we receive their letter, then, the Federal Government will have to take a decision on that.