If there is anything that gladdens the heart of any engineer, it is having the right tools to work with and given a wage that is commensurate to his/her productivity.
This could be true in the case of members of the National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE) as they have expressed satisfaction with the installation of communication equipment that is helping both pilots and air traffic controllers communicate effectively.
The Association is happy that the communications equipment were working at optimal level to aid safety in the nation’s airspace.
The president of NAAE, Engineer Ishaya Dung in an interview with aviation journalists in Lagos, said there were no more blind spots experienced by Pilots while flying in the nation’s airspace as a result of the installation of new equipment across the country.
Dung said “There were some areas where pilots actually lodged complains that they are blind spots. Management bought Long Range Radios which were actually new in the system. It is new because it was the first time radios were deployed in our system. So far, that challenge has been taken care of and it has been testified to too by some of the pilots that we have interacted with.
He noted that the challenge of easy of movement which was critical to their operations had also been solved with the purchase of operational vehicles by the management.
“Now that management has provided new vehicles, it has addressed that challenge. As soon as we do the necessary documentation, we will distribute them to various stations where they are most needed. . They assured us it will be a continuous process until the problem is solved. We also have challenge of advancement on the part of our members moving from one level to the other. But that has been taken care of”
Dung called on the government to look into their welfare in terms of remuneration, training and retraining of personnel,while appealing to their members to be dedicated to their duties.
He noted that the NAAE, which was engulfed in crises before he was elected has become one family adding that the association was focused on moving the agency forward.
“Before we came in, NAAE was bedeviled with crises and the challenges were more of disunity amongst members of the association. By the time, we came in, there is relative stability. We are not there yet but we have made remarkable progress and the atmosphere is quite stable”
