E-filing of flight plans a reality

E-filing of flight plans a reality Namibia this week became the first African country to join the Central African Aviation Database. The Namibian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) says Namibia has taken the lead in aviation in Africa in this regard.

The online system allows pilots to file flight plans electronically, even from their cellphones, and according to NCAA CEO Angeline Simana this is a true milestone for Namibian aviation.

She described the new portal as a central reference base of exceptional quality and as a solution to safer aviation on the continent.

The system offers pilots, wherever they may find themselves in the country, immediate access to the digital flight information from across the world.

Now flight plans can be filed, adjusted and updated without going to the NCAA offices.

“It is a big day for pilots in Namibia,” Simana said.

The system, which will cost the country N$21 million in the next eight years, connects local aviation regulations to those of the rest of the world.

It was developed for Namibia in cooperation with the Air Transport and Navigation Services (ATNS) in South Africa and was supplied by Frequentis from Austria.

The system is also a quality source of information for users and NCAA staff have been trained for the past 20 months to work on the system.

Through the implementation of this system, Namibia has met eight of the 21 steps established by the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) to take the country's management systems from an aviation information system to an aviation information management system, Simana said. By 2025, every country in Africa should be connected to this portal.

Telecom Namibia manages the system, which also has an archive for old flight plans for research purposes.

The NCAA targets a two-minute flight plan approval, but added that manually filed flight plans would still be accepted from those who have no internet access.