Antigua st. John's - No
country regulated by the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority
(ECCAA) is mandated to have a working radar system in place, according
to Civil Aviation Minister John Maginley.
Speaking with
Caribarena on Thursday, Minister Maginley sought to quell concerns about
the damaged radar system in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) department of
the VC Bird International Airport.
The Minister said all
commotion about the subject is unwarranted since Antigua and Barbuda
continues to use a recognized and well-regulated system.
“There
is no country governed by ECCAA that has a radar,” Maginley said. “All
the countries governed by ECCAA use what is called a procedural approach
and that has been ongoing for a while.”
The aviation minister
noted that the radar is used to assist ATCs in directing air traffic but
it is not a mandatory device and its absence, he said, does not make
the airport any less safe.
Nonetheless, he pointed out that
government has for some time been trying to “upgrade” the country’s
aviation system to bring it in line with other destinations like St.
Maarten, the French islands, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
“We
are working on it. This year, if I recall correctly, they brought in a
consultant who has made some upgrades. I know it is down. Consultants
have made recommendations and the mechanical parts have been fixed. I
think the issue now is the size of the UPS and they are working with
ECCA on what is the right size of the thing,” Maginley said about the
current situation.
That notwithstanding, he maintains that the
country’s aviation system operates quite effectively with the procedural
approach, and says this has been confirmed with ECCA.
Whenever
the radar does come on stream, Maginley says this would only be the
beginning of the process, as training of staff and other mechanical
upgrades within the ATC department would also need to accompany the
activation.
“It requires training and an upgrade. Its not just
simply about putting it in. It is an ongoing progress and the technical
people are working with ECCAA to see how soon we could get to that,” the
minister said.
The consultant, Dr. Vincent Richards, recently
proposed to Cabinet the upgrade process that will bring bring Antigua
and Barbuda in line with Trinidad the regional leader for air traffic
control, and the place where many of the region’s air traffic
controllers are trained.
But, as with most things in the
twin-island state lately, the Minister said the issue at this moment is
one of funding. Government has simply not been able to disburse the
budgeted $714,407 required for the ‘Restoration of the Airport Radar’
initiative proposed in the 2012 Estimates.
AIRSPACE IN JEOPARDY
Caribarena
continued its investigations into the matter on Thursday, speaking with
more experts in the field, and in the process coming up with further
revelations about the country’s airspace.
One senior air traffic
control officer (ATCO) here said the airspace controlled from the V.C.
Bird International Airport surrounds the islands of Antigua, Barbuda,
Montserrat, Redonda, St Kitts and Nevis, and basically covers an area of
10,000 square miles and a vertical height of 24,500 feet.
This number, he said, was recently reduced due to airspace lost as a result of the control area not being equipped with radar.
According
to the ATCO, all other countries within the region that have control
over the airspace of other territories (such as Antigua does) are
equipped with radar.
“The airspace extends about 80 miles to the
east, 70 miles to the west, 26 miles to the south and 53 miles to the
north. Within the airspace, St. Kitts and Nevis controls a block of
airspace, which is about 625 square miles and extends to a height of
6,500 feet,” this newspaper’s source explained.
Antigua’s
airspace is bordered by Guadeloupe’s airspace to the south, Puerto
Rico’s airspace to the west and north (above 15,000 ft), Saint Maarten
airspace to the north (below 15,000 feet) and Trinidad and Tobago
Oceanic Airspace to the east.
The source went further to point
out that the unique characteristic of Antigua’s airspace is that it is
the only ECCAA-regulated OECS territory airspace of that size with an
accompanying volume of air traffic.
“In other words the airspace is very busy when compared to St.Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada and Dominican airspace.
Dominica
only has a vertical height of 7,000 feet, above which Guadeloupe and
Martinique airspace takes effect. St Lucia also has a limited area of
space that it occupies and its vertical height only goes up to 13,000
feet when compared to Antigua’s 24,500 feet height. St .Vincent and
Grenada also go up to 13,000 ft in height,” the source said.
Antigua
and Barbuda was the first OECS territory to invest in a radar system.
This was back in the year 2000. The country is sandwiched by
neighbouring territories that are all radar environments.
And
according to this source, a challenge exists for aircraft flying from
Puerto Rican airspace into Antiguan airspace of having to adjust to “an
antiquated means of air traffic control”.
He added: “Saint
Maarten has less airspace than Antigua but had to invest in radar
because of the (sheer) volume of traffic which goes through there on a
daily basis.”
Concerning Antigua’s situation, he said: “It was so
important that the former chief of ATC and now an ECCAA Director along
with his deputy at the time who is now an ECCAA employee successfully
articulated to the Government the need to get the radar. If the need was
there in 1997/1998 it has to be even more relevant in 2012,” the source
said.
Read more: http://www.caribarena.com
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