Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt 

ARCO Aviation Academy has urged the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to checkmate the indiscriminate drone operations by uncertified persons in the country. 

Chief Instructor of the NCAA-approved Aviation Academy, Samuel Sunday, made the call yesterday at the graduation of its students in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Sunday tasked the NCAA to ensure that certified persons enter the drone domain to make the airspace safe. 

He stressed that the Academy, being the foremost drone-certified training school by the NCAA in the country, is concerned about the safety of air users and the growth of the Nigerian aviation industry. 

Sunday emphasised that without proper checks by relevant regulatory authorities, the airspace would be at risk of interference. 

The chief instructor disclosed that the training school was established to address the demand and cost for pilots going abroad to get the drone pilot certification.

“ARCO Aviation Academy is the first drone-certified training school in Nigeria, which is accredited and certified by the Nigerian Civil Aviation NCAA, and it is the first to have received an Approved Aviation Organisation (AAO) certification by NCAA.

“With the demand for pilots going abroad, going outside the country to get the remote pilot certification, that’s the drone pilot certification, ARCO Worldwide Services came up with the need to create an institution that will allow Nigerians to stay within the country and have this certification”, the chief instructor stated.

He continued that the institution subsidised the cost of getting certification seamlessly to boost the revenue generation for the country.

According to him: “ARCO now came up with the idea of building its own school, so that it will keep all the revenue within and also train its own pilots and other pilots from other companies to get the certification with ease, without spending much and without going out of the country.

“Today, we are graduating the second set of the visual line of sight pilots, that’s the VLOS pilot. We have graduated the first set, which is the 001 RPC; there are four in number, and the second set, we have 12, which gives us a total of 16 in number.”

Sunday, however, charged the graduates to exhibit professionalism in their operations, maintain ethical standards and be good ambassadors of the institution.

He also charged them to always prioritise the safety of members of the public, warning that erring drone pilots would be sanctioned by relevant regulatory authorities.”

Sunday encouraged: “I expect them to go out there first of all, make us proud by flying the banner of ARCO Aviation Academy wide and high.

“I expect them to fly with every knowledge, skill and good attitude that they have acquired from this institution in portraying every activity they do in their different companies and even in the community, in the general public.”

The chief instructor expressed optimism for the technological advancement of drone operators and the need to grow Nigeria’s economy. 

 One of the newly certified drone pilots, Achimugu Ukwenya, expressed satisfaction with the experience he garnered within the three-week intensive training. 

​