The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has issued weather advisory circular to the industry stakeholders and demanded strict compliance.
The director general of the agency said in a statement that the aim of the aim of the advisory “is to bring pilots and operators up to date on the occurrence of thunderstorm phenomenon over Nigerian airports since the onset of rainy season in the country” as the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) reported 94 cases of thunderstorms from recorded from six locations in the month of July.
“The statistics from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) so far indicated that most of the airports have recorded quite a number of thunderstorms between March and July 2020. In the month of July 2020, NIMET data indicate the following number of thunderstorm occurrence: Abuja (23), Ikeja (8), Kano (24), Port Harcourt (11), Owerri (17) and Benin (11). In the same month, gustiness range between 22Kt and 42Kt at the listed airports.
The purpose of this AC is to bring forth the evolving weather information which could adversely affect safe and efficient flight operations post Covid-19 pandemic.
“Severe thunderstorms and many other hazardous weather phenomena such as severe turbulence, microburst, low level wind shear and hail events that could affect the safety of flight operations are possible during rainy season; therefore, all stakeholders are expected to perform their roles as stated below in order to ensure safety of flight operations,” he said.
