Why Lagos Radar was Shut Down-NAMA

Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has confirmed that the Lagos radar was shut down briefly to protect the system from technical defect following power outage at the site which affected the Automatic Mains Failure (AMF) switch.


The Automatic Mains Failure switch connects or disconnects the mains or generator and vice versa depending on availability.


The breakdown of the switch over the weekend was caused by incessant power outage at the airport, forcing the agency to deploy an emergency procedure to save the system from colossal damage.


The incident, however, did not pose any threat to air traffic safety as air traffic controllers on duty immediately shifted to procedural handling of flights as they are equally licensed to practice such during an emergency situation.


Engineer Mazi Nnamdi Udoh, managing director of the agency, supervised the Engineers who were deployed to rectify the fault on the AMF and were able to restore power to the radar system which began operation shortly after switching to the generator.


The operation of the radar was part of the epoch making landing at the Lagos airport of a newly acquired Dreamliner-Boeing 787 by Ethiopian Airlines.


Engineers confirmed last night that the incident got nothing to do with the integrity of the radar, saying that “the system is working perfectly".