Engr. Godwin Gyang Balang Director of Aerodrome and Airspace Standards

Engr. Godwin Gyang Balang is currently the Director, Aerodrome and Airspace Standards (DAAS) with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Before his appointment as DAAS in May 2023, he served as General Manager, Air Operators Certification and Surveillance (AOC&S) in the Directorate of Air Worthiness Standards (DAWS) from November 2017 to June 2023.

He is the current Chairman of NCAA Regulations Committee and the current Chairman of the Technical Committee-Regulatory for BAGASOO (Banjul Accord Group Safety Oversight Organization) comprising seven (7) BAG countries (Nigeria, Cape Verde, Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea).

The young Engr. Godwin Balang's educational career began with a Plateau State Governor’s award in 1988 following his excellent performance in GCE/WAEC. Based on his brilliant GCE/WAEC result, he was awarded scholarship by the Bureau for External Aids to the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) where he studied and specialized in Avionics. He graduated with a first class from Riga Aviation University, Latvia Republic in 1996 before proceeding for his MSc in Aeronautical Engineering (specialized in Avionics Radio Communication, Navigation and Surveillance systems). Prior to going to USSR, he had spent one year at the University of Jos where he was awarded the best performing 100-level student in Architecture in 1989/90 session.

While in the former USSR he was also given an award for excellent performance in Russian Language. For his M.Sc. project, he designed a complex system based on Kalman’s digital filter for processing of information from radio navigation equipment called Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) and Inertial Reference Systems (IRS) to enable aircraft fly safely by maintaining continuous and accurate positional information.

Engr. Godwin's over 25 years of aviation regulatory and industry experience started as an Aircraft Maintenance Instructor with the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria (1996-2000) after which he joined the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority as an Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI) where he worked for 8 years before leaving to acquire hands-on experience in the industry as outlined below.

He served as the Safety and Quality Manager where successfully led the deployment and implementation of effective Safety Management Systems for various helicopter companies involved in transportation of passengers to offshore locations. They are Aero Contractors, Atlantic Aviation Ltd and Nesto Aviation Services Ltd.

He is a COREN registered engineer, a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and also a holder of an Aircraft Maintenance Engineers License.

He is also a HSE professional and holds NEBOSH-IGC (International General Certificate) levels 1, 2 and 3 in HSE. He is also an expert in the use of different Safety Management tools including BOW-TIE XP and several Safety Management softwares. Under his management Shell granted Aero Contractors (Rotary wing) a green rating in HSE in one their audits in 2013.

He has attended several aviation professional courses with renowned organizations including FAA Oklahoma Academy, United Kingdom CAA, Singapore Aviation Academy, University of Southern California, Aviation Management Courses with IATA, CAE Aircraft Type Courses, ICAO Safety Oversight 2 of 2 Courses and many more.

He possesses comprehensive knowledge of Aircraft, Air Operators Certification (AOC), Approved Maintenance Organization (AMO) Certification and Safety Management Systems from both regulatory and industry perspectives.

Among other things, he was the Chairman NCAA COVID-19 Restart Committee and led in the development of guidelines on uncharted grounds for the restart of aviation activities after COVID-19 pandemic to safely resume flight operations and other aviation activities in Nigeria. These guidelines have been adapted by many countries and international organizations to develop their own guidelines;

As the Regulations Committee Chairman for NCAA, he has led the complete overhaul of NCAA rulemaking process which is documented and published not only as Rulemaking Process Policy and Procedures Manual on the NCAA website but also used to produce the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations 2023.

In his capacity as the General Manager (AOC&S), he overhauled the post-AOC certification surveillance and AOC renewal process by introducing an AOC Modular Audit Programme that makes surveillance and tracking of status of commercial airline operators more effective and efficient for both the NCAA and the airlines.

Engr. Balang has participated both as an airline officer and as a regulator in the development of software called SMS Pro that is used by many aviation service providers for the implementation of Safety Management System and by Civil Aviation Authorities for implementation of State Safety Programme. Engr. Balang initiated and led young NCAA ICT staff in the development of the NCAA Flight Safety Dashboard(fsgdashboard.com) for which the DGCA has issued a letter of commendation to him for supporting NCAA’s drive for the use of technology in regulatory service delivery.

He served as a member to a high-level ministerial task force on the verification of the airworthiness status of aircraft and operational competences of commercial airline operators in the country.

In his new role as DAAS, his main drive and objective is to assist NCAA achieve its vision of being a leading Civil Aviation Authority in the world by ensuring that Nigerian Aerodromes and Airspace are transformed to be comparable to the best airports and airspace in the world to the satisfaction of all the travelling public.

He has passion for mentorship of younger persons at work, charity and voluntary work and has been involved in a few charity and voluntary activities.