Anthony Bugembe
21 August 2008
Kampala — IN a bid to improve air travel safety management, the East African Community is to begin using the Automatic Dependence Surveillance System-Broadcast.
Most countries currently use radar technology to track and control air traffic.
However, using the surveillance technology, a plane automatically transmits or receives data from other compliant aircraft via data link to enhance safety.
"It is our hope that the cost-effective concept famed for playing a leading role in aeronautical navigation and surveillance in USA, Europe, Australia and the Far East will carry its positive attributes to East Africa and Uganda in particular," said Zephaniah Baliddawa, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) board chairman.
"The plan is to bring the technology to East Africa and conduct pilot trials on selected air routes and airports in partner states."
Baliddawa was on Tuesday opening a sensitisation seminar on the system at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe.
Similar workshops are being held in other East African countries.
They are to address issues like access to funds, regulatory requirements and the system's viability, especially to operators with old aircraft.
In 2005, the World Bank did an air infrastructural audit in the region, which found that Tanzania and Uganda had one radar each.
The initial cost of introducing the technology was estimated at $29m (sh46b).
The CAA chief of Air Navigation Services, John Kagoro Tusubira, said in Uganda radar surveillance covered only about 100km.
"Buying more radar equipment would not be cost-effective," he said, adding that the new system was about 20% cheaper.
Within two to five years, Tusubira noted, East Africa would begin using the new technology since "we have already submitted our proposals to the World Bank."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
