Kenneth Ehigiator

The Aeronautical Information Association of Nigeria, AISAN, has urged the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ogbonna Onovo, to call to order a police pilot who arrested one of its members for cautioning him against incorrect routing plan from Lagos to Abuja.

According to the group, the helicopter pilot did not only arrest its member, but also threatened to shoot him for daring to caution him (pilot).

President and Secretary of AISAN, Paul Igene and Anthony Nweke respectively, said the pilot was expected to maintain the routing at every reporting point no matter the type of aircraft, but failed to do so.

AISAN leaders alleged that attempt by the AIS to correct him was met with assault, stressing that instead of the pilot to remain calm when he was accosted by members of the association on duty at the Murtala Mohammed International airport, he threatened to shoot them if he had his pistol on him.

The duo said the pilot later brought in a policeman to arrest their members who were on duty, including the general secretary, Anthony Nweke. AISAN explained that in sympathy with the association, Air Traffic Controllers and their counterparts in the communications decided to ground operations for almost an hour at the airport which led to the intervention of the Director General NCAA Harold Demuren and the Managing Director of NAMA. Calling on the Inspector General of Police to call the police pilot to order, AISAN warned that this should be the last time such an embarrassing incident will be tolerated.

“The police pilot was arrogant and he was not ready to comply with the airspace rules and we are not happy over the ugly situation that the routing was not correct and flight level was not correct also” The  statement added. They said their members were released after about three hours of detention at the Beesam police station following the intervention of some aviation parastatal chiefs.

It will be recalled that three months ago during the celebration of World AIS day, the association decried the high rate of pilots neglect towards obtaining flight plans that will guide them during their flight operations.