GHATCA opens its facilities to general public

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Ghana Air Traffic Controls Association
Ghana Air Traffic Controls Association

The Ghana Air Traffic Controls Association (GHATCA) has marked the International Day of the air traffic control by opening up its facilities to the general public.

Ghana Air Traffic Controls Association
Ghana Air Traffic Controls Association

The day, which is marked worldwide on October 20th, is aimed at opening up that aspect of air travel to the public in order to educate and create awareness about the work of air traffic controllers.

It is also a day to celebrate the work of air traffic controllers for the critical role they play in ensuring safety in the aviation industry.

GHATCA marked the day, which also starts off the association’s week long celebrations, under the theme: “Air traffic control, challenges and the future.”

Mr. Daniel Nartey, Vice President of GHATCA, who briefed journalists at the airport on Monday, said although it was airports, air-crafts, airlines and pilots among others, who come readily to mind when aviation is mentioned, air traffic controllers were a very important but silent component of air travel, who worked in the background to ensure a continuous flow of air-crafts in the air-spaces they managed.

He said the Ghana air traffic controllers managed the Accra Flight Information Region(FIR), which is made up of the air-spaces of Ghana, Togo and Benin as well as a vast portion of the Atlantic Ocean.

Mr Nartey said air traffic controllers communicate with the aircraft from the time it entered the Accra FIR until it enters the next FIR on its journey, using various satellite and radar equipment.

The latest of these equipment is the Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC), which allows the controllers to communicate with the pilot using text.

This, he said, made it possible to communicate with air-crafts even when there are problems with the radar, and also helps to eliminate mistakes that may arise from language and pronunciation problems on both the part of the controller and the pilot.

Mr Nartey said an air traffic controller must be alert, vigilant and highly skilled, with technical training from the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority.

Air traffic controllers make up the Air Navigation Services (ANS) unit of the GCAA and is then main revenue earner for the authority.

GNA

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