The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has issued a weather advisory circular to the industry and demanded strict compliance.
It called the attention of pilots and operators to the occurrence of thunderstorm phenomenon over Nigerian airports since the onset of the rainy season in the country.
NCAA Director-General, Capt. Musa Nuhu, said the statistics released by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) so far indicated that most of the airports have recorded quite a number of thunderstorms between March and July 2020.
He said severe thunderstorms and many other hazardous weather phenomena such as severe turbulence, microburst, low level wind shear and hail events could affect the safety of flight operations during the rainy season.
According to him, flight crews/operators and Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) shall ensure adherence to aerodrome weather minima.
He said, “Pilots shall exercise maximum restraint whenever adverse weather is observed or forecast by NIMET. Pilot/flight crew members shall obtain adequate departure, en-route and destination weather information and briefing from NIMET aerodrome meteorological offices prior to flight operations.”