THE Ogle Airport Incorporated (OIA) will this year be outfitted with state-of-the-art air navigation equipment which is superior to the Global Positioning System (GPS) and which will take that airport’s operations to another level.

Chief Executive Officer of the Ogle Airport Inc (OAI), Lieutenant Colonel (retd) Anthony (Tony) Mekdeci, disclosed that the Very High Frequency (VHF) Omnidirectional Radio Range and Distance Measuring Equipment VOR/DME is to be installed at OAI by the Government of Guyana to better manage the airspace and conflicting traffic.

He disclosed that the VOR/DME equipment at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) is now being replaced, and the one that currently operates at the CJIA would be installed at OAI.

“There is no definite timeline established for this transfer as yet, but the hope is that VOR/DME will arrive at OAI before year end,” he said.

The short-range radio navigation systems for aircraft enable pilots to determine their position and distance away from an airport by receiving radio signals transmitted by fixed ground beacons at distances of up to one hundred miles away from those beacons. The system facilitates safer travel and landings for aircraft equipped with the receiver, and makes for easier management of inbound and outbound aircrafts by air traffic controllers.

Mr. Mekdeci said that improving on-board navigational systems using VOR/DME would tremendously assist pilots. “It is very important, because if you have one or two aeroplanes flying in the airspace, that is one thing; but if you have several (aeroplanes) flying in the same airspace, then you would recognise how important the navigation system is for safety,” he said.

OAI was certified as a Regional Class airport in March last year.
The absence of VOR/DME has been identified by other local aviation officials as one of the remaining obstacles to OAI achieving its full utilisation potential, because installation of VOR/DME is a precondition before some airlines would operate from Ogle.

(By Clifford Stanley)