:: CCAA ::

A Flight Procedures' Training for Civil Aviation experts

Published: Tuesday, 26 September 2023 12:27

Hosted by the CCAA Training School located at the entrance of Nsimalen, and organized by the African Flight Procedures programme of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the training is aimed at equipping African civil aviation authority experts in conventional navigation and monitoring of obstacles.

The DG opens the training

The Director General of the CCAA, Mrs Paule Assoumou Koki, chaired the opening of this session, September 25, 2023, which brought together some twenty African experts from South Africa, Angola, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Zimbabwe and, of course, Cameroon.

Over a two-week period, participants will learn about navigation using ground-based equipment and new concepts such as performance-based navigation, i.e. navigation based on satellite equipment.

Participants listen to the DG’s speech

ICAO has set up this training course to help States speed up the full implementation of regulatory oversight of performance-based navigation and thus enable African air navigation experts to effectively monitor the implementation of flight plans.

It should be noted that in the past when it came to navigation, pilots followed rivers or roads to find their bearings; then we moved on to visual navigation with equipment installed on the ground and now aircraft receive information sent by satellites.

This training will therefore help to reduce certain shortcomings and bring these experts up to speed. Especially as performance-based navigation (PBN) is the top priority of the Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP).

The experts will also learn about obstacle surveillance since our airports are constantly occupied illegally, with buildings, installation of pylons or commercial installations. Nevertheless, Law N°2013/010 of 24 July 2013 on the civil aviation regime in Cameroon is clear on the fact that the airport domain is sacred and inalienable without authorization. And that the easement plans defined therein must be respected.

To this end, all developers of buildings or economic activities in the immediate vicinity of the airport must first seek the opinion of the CCAA when they are still at the project stage, and apply for a building permit from their local town hall. A circular published by the CCAA in 2022 sheds further light on the compatible use of land located in the vicinity of aerodromes.

For example, buildings of a certain height or any other installations must respect a certain distance from the airport because they can have an impact on flight safety.

The Director General of the CCAA took the opportunity to invite all those involved in civil aviation to work to improve safety at our airports and to avoid falling foul of the sanctions of the ICAO's Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP), whose resolutions are always costly. This training, led by two ICAO instructors, will end on October 06, 2023.