One of the drawbacks of the information overload, which is our inescapable reality, is that critical bits of news often fall quickly off the radar into dangerous oblivion.

We’d hate that to be the case with the alarm that the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) is trying to sound by imploring developers of multi-storey buildings to seek the requisite approvals prior to construction, as they may be in breach of civil aviation guidelines.

Does any one need us to spell out the danger of not conforming to aviation guidelines?

Anything that even remotely has to do with the safety of aircraft operation is everybody’s business, whether one travels by aeroplanes or lives in their path.

We in this space have been drawn lately to the matter of building standards, which has been reinforced by the tragic June 24, 2021 collapse of Miami’s high-rise Champlain Towers South building at Surfside, Florida, that claimed many lives.

Mr Noel Ellis, the director of flight safety at the JCAA, according to the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), has drawn attention to another aspect of the matter of the emergence of numerous high-rise buildings throughout Jamaica, particularly in Kingston.

Mr Ellis explained that one misconception that developers may have about the need to reach out to the JCAA is the distance from the airport, noting: “What many persons don’t realise is that, even if you perceive that you are far from the airport, any tall building might have an impact on the flying community.” In other words, developers of tall buildings have an obligation to observe certain practices, like lighting and informing pilots of obstruction, that give warning about their presence in the area.

The JCAA needs to approve these buildings and Mr Ellis is reaching out to developers who are planning to do construction in excess of four storeys to get in touch with the authority to ascertain what impact this could have on the aviation community.

Such timely contact with the JCAA will avoid unnecessary problems, including the need for stop orders and even demolition of buildings which are not in conformity with the guidelines and international standards by which the aviation sector operates.

Mr Ellis outlines the repercussions of breaches rather plainly: “It could cause an accident if a pilot isn’t aware of these buildings being in this area. This will affect the kind of approach going into an airport, so it may cause an aircraft to not be able to use a certain part of the runway because of an obstruction…”

He gave as an example a building going up in the hills of St Andrew, or even in New Kingston, which could affect an aircraft that is coming into Norman Manley International Airport at Palisadoes.

“Many persons don’t realise how close you are to the airport, but also the air route planes fly on. We call it railroads in the skies, so there are specific routes that they fly on to go into an airport or out of an airport. A tall building may be impacting that railway track in the sky,” Mr Ellis said.

Depending on the height of the building, and how it will affect the aircraft, it may need to be lit with a particular type of light, whether a flashing light or a solid light, and with a particular intensity and colour.

The price of ignorance or non-compliance could be way too heavy.