COMMUNICATION & RADAR FAILURE AT LAGOS AIRPORT

On 13 December 2009 the communication and radar systems at Lagos’ Mohammed Murtala International Airport (DNMM/LOS) failed for two hours. Reports indicate that as many as 15 aircraft were forced to circle the airport from approximately 1200-1400 local time (1100-1300 GMT) as they waited to re-establish connection with the facility’s air traffic controllers. Among the affected aircraft was Ethiopian Airlines flight ET901, which was en route to Lagos from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The aircraft had 180 passengers on board and was forced to make an emergency landing without clearance after it ran out of fuel. Several other flights, including Qatar Airways flight QR592, which had 190 passengers on board, also made emergency landings, while other flights diverted to other airports. A power outage apparently caused the radar system to go down. The Lagos airport has two power generators for use in the event of an outage, but reports indicate that neither system was operating correctly. The radar system was apparently installed recently as part of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) project. Nigeria’s Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed the incident and stated that they have launched an investigation into the failure.