The Director General,
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)
Aviation House
Murtala Muhammad Airport
P.M.B 21029
Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.

Dear Sir,

ALARM OVER THE DANGERS INHERENT IN THE RECENT COMMENCEMENT OF LOW ALTITUDE CIRCUIT TRAINING OVER DENSELY POPULATED NEIGHBOURHOODS OF ILORIN BY THE INTERNATIONAL AVIATION COLLEGE, ILORIN

The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) is constrained to bring to your urgent attention the socio-security implications of the commencement of circuit training of student pilots over the densely populated residential neighborhoods of Ilorin by the Kwara State Government-owned International Aviation College, Ilorin (IACI). In recent times, our Party has factually observed with high consternation, unprecedented air traffic within Ilorin and its environs, arising mainly from what the College insiders have described as the ‘historic commencement of circuit training of student pilots by the IACI’.

Already, loud grumblings and muted complaints are building up from Airport/Olorunsogo/Asa-Dam/Gari-Alimi/Adewole residents who are now daily inundated with risky and noisy aerobatic activities by student pilots of the College. The residents, who are justifiably weary of the twin dangers of noise, pollution and plane crashes, have complained about the aerial meanderings of student pilots and the resultant elevated levels of potentially hazardous particles from training aircraft exhaust and lead from propeller-plane fuel over their densely populated areas.

While we admit that Circuit Training, the act of repetitive take?offs, approaches and landings, is an essential part of pilot training, we are equally concerned about safety contingencies for both the helpless neighbors of the College as well as the student pilots flying over them.

It is well recognized that both the Ilorin International Airport and lately the controversial International Aviation College, Ilorin are located near densely populated residential areas, some of which have regrettably been approved well after the airport, let alone the IACI, was established. In fact, the population demographic around the College has changed over the years, with new settlements aggressively springing up, in the absence of any thoughtful buffer arrangements by the state government. Thus, since these circuits are conducted within close proximity to the Airport and as residential areas are close by, the College is therefore accountable as a neighbour of nearby communities, in ensuring that while their safety is not compromised, noise and pollution impacts are mitigated as far as are practicable.

And to properly underscore our Party’s concern, the avoidable incidence of the Oregon International Airshow tragedy readily comes to mind. On July 16, 2006, one Robert Guilford perished and several homes and lives were destroyed during the Oregon International Airshow when the aircraft piloted by Guilford lost power before crashing into a densely populated residential area approximately one half mile from Hillsboro Airport, Australia. Even with thousands of hours of flying experience, Guilford was unable to avert that terrible tragedy.

It is also instructive to mention the crash on Penmar Golf Course last summer that involved an airplane from a flight school at Santa Monica. The non-challance of the authority there caused untoward hardship and deaths, which unfortunate incidence has led to proposers for the closure of the flight school by both the residents and the Los Angeles City Council. Other gory examples abound globally which underscore the dangers for residents on the grounds who are routinely subjected to aviation training and over flights, in many cases performed by pilots who have minimal or no actual flying experience.

And this has been the lots of the neighborhoods of the Aviation College here in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. Some of them have complained (but this could not be independently verified by our Party) that it practically feels as though they can reach up and pull the planes out of the sky, with some of them revealing that the altitude could be so low sometimes that they could spot the colour of the shirt of the students pilots and the quality of their headsets!

Sir, as a seasoned aviation expert, we reasonably believe that you know that the practice world over, especially from world class aviation schools, is that dedicated satellite airfields and offshore training routes are usually established for the flight training of the student pilots. This is not only to minimize the exposure to risk and the impacts of aircraft noiseand pollution to the residents on the ground but also to create a conducive field for the trainee pilots in their professional pursuit. It is not clear whether the Kwara State Government under former Governor Bukola Saraki and its technical partners, in their collective mindless rush to score cheap political points, undertook an examination of the operation and location of training areas for the flight school, given the safety and noise impacts of growth forecasts in the Master Plan of the aviation college.

And this partly informed our Party’s resolve to bitterly argue against the establishment of the College, which has so far gulped Billions of public funds, with a proposed investment of yet another N1.5Billion for the purchase of extra 15 aircrafts. Our Party has always been of a strong conviction that a project of the magnitude of a world class Aviation College should have been wholly left in the hands of serious minded private investors, with enough war chest far bigger than that of the Kwara State Government, which has severally been adjudged to be fiscally on the brinks! The time tested and the ideal role of the state in this instance is to create the enabling environment for the take-over and overall growth of the private concern, and not to filter meager state resources on a project that has marginal impact on the poor people of the state.

OUR DEMAND:

In the light of the foregoing, we firmly demand the following;

1. That there should be an immediate modification of the circuit plan in order to avoid the densely populated neighborhoods. Even at that, we demand that the circuits be kept as compact as possible
2. That there should be maintained henceforth, a safe altitude at all times during instructional flight practice. We believe it is good airmanship, and also the law, to ensure that when flying over residential areas a moderately high altitude should be maintained.
3. That concrete effort should be made to ensure that trainee aircraft are fitted with more effective noise silencers.
4. That the government and its technical partners should without further delay, put on their thinking caps and consider the all important possibility of establishing a “satellite” training airfield where the exposure to risk and the impacts of aircraft noise are substantially minimal.That is, a bare bones infrastructure placed in a rural and sparsely populated setting with basic facilities, to allow circuit training and other related activities thereto, while the State or local government put in place adequate planning buffers to preclude the encroachment of residential development both in the immediate vicinity of the specially earmarked areas and on land affected by noise from circuit training.
5. That the authorities of the College and the Airport should forthwith undertake an education and awareness program to better inform the local community on the College flying activities including , but not limited to, circuit training. This will be following the enviable footstep of the Nigerian Navy, which routinely announces its flight training sessions and the need for the local communities not to be panicky.

However, if the State Government, in its trademark slavish eagerness to please its godfather, continues to exhibit the long established pattern of disregard and indifference to the safety, livability, and security concerns of the Ilorin residents, it is likely that risks associated with aviation activity in the areas in question in recent times will significantly increase as will the erosion of the quality of life of the people around these endangered zones. We cannot but imagine what the agony and helplessness of the innocent people residing around these areas would be when the Kwara State Government ultimately takes delivery of its brand new 15 aircraft, making up to nineteen, with the four already in the College’s fleet.

Sir, we trust you will understand this genuine and verifiable alarm as a clarion call on your good offices to swiftly act in defense of a people without a voice. We appeal to you to look beyond partisan politics and take a critical and objective look at this information, with a view to stemming what potent to be danger lurking menacingly around the corner.

As we earnestly await your response, please accept the renewed assurances of our high esteem.

Yours sincerely,

Alhaji Suleiman Buhari
Kwara State CPC State Chairman

CC:

The Presidency

Hon Minister of Aviatio

The Executive Governor of Kwara State

The Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly

The Federal Airport Authority (FAAN)

Director General, State Security Service

Inspector General of Police

The Ilorin Emirate Council

The Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU)