The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA) has issued a weather advisory circular to ensure safety of operations during harmattan haze.
The circular madated them to ensure use of Nigerian Meteorological Agency ( NiMet) seasonal climate prediction.
This was sent just as the regulatory agency has given some instances where air traffic control may be forced to close the airspace due to inclement weather conditions.
The NCAA directive: ‘Aviation weather in dry season,’ which was signed by the Director General of the agency, Captain Musa Nuhu said pilots should expect varying degrees of dust haze, early morning fog along coastal areas which in some instances reduces horizontal visibility to less than 200 metres.
The circular added that air- to- ground visibility would be affected and that aerodrome visibility may fall below prescribed operating minimal standard, all due to dust haze or fog.
The NCAA equally warned that in severe conditions, dust haze or fog can blot out runway markers and airfield lighting over wide visual areas making visual navigation extremely difficult or impossible.
All thesee, they said, may lead to delays, diversions and/or cancellations where terminal visibility falls below the prescribed aerodrome minima.
Captain Nuhu further stated that air traffic control may close the airspace when any of the three- : air-to-ground visibility, visual navigation impairment and runway markers shrouding due to dust haze is observed or forecast by NiMet
