Following the growing concern to ensure the safety of all airlines in the Nigerian aviation industry, stakeholders in the sector recently converged on Lagos for the West African aviation accident prevention and airline performance optimization conference, tagged: ‘Human Factor vs Technology’.
Similarly, Star Navigation Group Limited, a Canadian aero-space flight science equipment company unveiled its latest technology, Star In-Flight Safety Monitoring Systems (Star-iSMS) to the Nigerian aviation industry.
Jonathan Kordich, executive vice president, Star Navigation Systems Group Limited and FlightPath International, said accidents in the aviation sector have always followed the same pattern. However, recognition of the various human errors leading to the accident or incident can be identified through an investigation to prevent a recurrence.
“This kind of system being implemented, installed on aircraft will give us a much greater opportunity to be able to see the series of events occurring and fix them before it turns into a disaster. This is the type of technology that is available today,” Kordich said.
He stated that while regulators work to set the minimum operating standard in the industry, however, no regulation in the world can be written to the extent that they will prevent every possible incident or accident that could happen. “Regulations are there to maintain a certain standard in terms of safety, and operators must actually be above that standard, which is what we like to see,” Kordich said.
He equally disclosed that the system has been tested and certified for airworthiness by world transport authorities including the FAA and Transport Canada. According to him, Star Navigation owns the world-wide license (ground, air and marine) for this revolutionary technology and is actively developing new applications for in-flight medical monitoring, environmental monitoring, and ground-based systems.
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“It’s not only about safety, although that is the primary; but also, efficiency, comfort for the passengers to be able to get people from A to B. This is what this system will actually provide because of early analytical analysis about performance of aircraft and how we fly the aeroplanes,” Kordich said.
Dayyabu Mustapha Danraka, director of operations, accident investigation bureau (AIB) Nigeria, said automation in the aviation industry is a very good technology that will help in preventing accidents. “It’s a brilliant innovation, welcome idea to the Nigerian aviation industry going by what I have seen in the presentation”.
According to Danraka, the AIB has always been ready based on the availability of equipment and the needed manpower. “So, it’s going to help greatly once the operators and even government agencies like my organisation when we subscribe to this innovation; it’s going to help us greatly in the enhancement of aviation safety,” Danraka said.
Harmeet Gill, senior director of investor relations, Star Navigation Systems Group Limited, said the team wants to see Nigeria’s aviation industry grow and that the public need to feel safer. “We bring artificial intelligence to Nigeria on aviation systems, ground vehicles for the military and defense. We don’t want to compromise safety even though aviation is the safest way to fly; but with our system it’s going to be safer and more compatible for the general public to fly”.
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