ONE GREEN AND HOPING
25th Jul 2014, 08:37
Ouagadougou Radar? We are accustomed to the cliché "Disappeared from Radar" when ever an aircraft comes to grief, whether on short finals to a remote jungle strip or en-route over 'First World' countries.
Just about every news agency reporting the loss of an aircraft out of Burkina Faso after crossing Northbound into Mali on the 24th July stated its disappearance from radar monitoring as a fact.....even a usually reliable on-line news letter. I can find no confirmation of operating ATC Radar units in either Burkina Faso or Mali. Is there someone current operating in that part of the world who knows?
I recall with clarity one particular West African location that was funded by an international coalition for merely the installation of a terminal area radar. I think most of us breathed a sigh of relief when, inevitably, the money put aside for its maintenance and training evaporated elsewhere, and we reverted to procedural measures and 126.9. When once passing another aircraft in cloud, we never saw it, but everybody heard it......Have to say that was a while back, so maybe things have changed, and there is now a level of reliable en-route coverage......just wondering, that's all....
Just about every news agency reporting the loss of an aircraft out of Burkina Faso after crossing Northbound into Mali on the 24th July stated its disappearance from radar monitoring as a fact.....even a usually reliable on-line news letter. I can find no confirmation of operating ATC Radar units in either Burkina Faso or Mali. Is there someone current operating in that part of the world who knows?
I recall with clarity one particular West African location that was funded by an international coalition for merely the installation of a terminal area radar. I think most of us breathed a sigh of relief when, inevitably, the money put aside for its maintenance and training evaporated elsewhere, and we reverted to procedural measures and 126.9. When once passing another aircraft in cloud, we never saw it, but everybody heard it......Have to say that was a while back, so maybe things have changed, and there is now a level of reliable en-route coverage......just wondering, that's all....