* Pix source : Doing Business in Hungary
…Says Fire Fighting Simulator Must Be Certified By NCAA For It To Be Operational
The Rector /Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, Kaduna State, Capt. Moddibo Alkali Mahmud has stated that the institution was making plans to bring in Magnus , a training aircraft manufactured in Hungary that would further boost the training of the students and also increase the number of aircraft in the school’s fleet.
This is just as he gave reason why the Fire Fighting Simulator has not been put to use.
He said these while speaking to the League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents(LAAC) who are currently undergoing NCATone-week training programme at NCAT, Zaria.
The NCAT boss said that the school has gone to Hungary with the officials of the Ministry of Aviation and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA) to inspect the manufacturer’s factory and that sooner or later, the aircraft will start arriving the college
“It will gladden me to tell you that we are moving another step higher. We are thinking of getting Magnus, which is another airplane that is manufactured in Hungry. We have been to their factory with NCAA and the Ministry of Aviation. We conducted our technical inspection; sooner or later, we will start to have those machines here.
“The advantages of that machine are that; one, it is made from carbon fibre, very light and it uses Premium Motoring Spirit (PMS) like the one you use in your car. So, from AvGas, we want down to Jet A1 and we are also going into Premium Motor Spirit(PMS). It is going to be less expensive to run with that aircraft,” Moddibo said.
The NCAT boss said that something unique about that aircraft is that it has a parachute of its own, adding that if you lose an engine, while flying it, there is a parachute that you will pull and the engine will come out and the pilot will be able to land the aircraft with that parachute.
“With this, you have saved a life and the equipment. The parachute is there for you in case you lose an engine and the aircraft has only one engine,” He added.
Speaking on the Fire Fighting Simulator that has not been put into use, Moddibo stated that the equipment was undergoing certification and that it is in the second stage of it .
He added that on completing the second stage, it would be certified by NCAA
“The equipment is an automated firefighting simulator, which gives room for simulating incident and accident activities that require fire. The firefighting simulator is undergoing process of certification; we are in stage two of the process and NCAA is responsible for issuing certification for the equipment and it cannot give you the certificate until you are through with all the processes, which we are working hard on to get. As soon as the second phase is completed, the machine would be put to use,” he said.
On why the contract for the construction of a fire simulator was awarded without provisions for access roads, power and fire tenders, Moddibo said, “The firefighting tender (E1) we have is one of the best equipment you can find anywhere. It is so big that, that fence and the access road and the culvert are giving more challenges for that machine so be used at that place and NCAT is coming out with another provision of a smaller fire tender, which I know before we put it to use, we will have another fire tender.
He continued, “Also, the electricity at that part of the college is being worked on. In essence, we are going to take electricity from the completed simulator Boeing 737 aircraft and we will deliver it to the firefighting simulator side. I think we are almost done with that.”
The NCAT Rector said that the major challenge he has been facing since becoming the boss of the school is paucity of funds and that it is not peculiar to the school.
According to him, “Life is never straight; it composes of ups and downs, nothing is straight forward in life. We do have challenges here, but the most pressing issue here just like somewhere else is fund. The funds are not sufficient for our day-to-day running and the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is also inadequate. So, we try to see if we can get more IGRs to carry out our mandates and expend them on our facilities and hostels.”
