Engr. Balang Godwin
Engr Godwin Gyang Balang is currently the Director, Airworthiness Standards (DAWS) with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Before his appointment as DAWS, he served as Director, Aerodrome and Airspace Standards (DAAS) from June 2023 to December 2025.
Engr. Balang possesses over 27 years of cognate aviation experience, both as a regulator and as an industry expert. His experience is in the areas of aircraft airworthiness, air navigation services and aerodrome and ground aids safety oversight from the NCAA and hands-on aviation safety and quality management experience from the industry.
He is also the current Chairman, Flight Standards Group (FSG), Chairman of the NCAA Regulations Committee, and the 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).
He has also just been appointed by the DGCA as the Chairman of NCAA in-house Committee on Nigerian Christian Pilgrimage.
Academic Qualifications:
He graduated with a first class from Riga Aviation University, Latvia Republic, where he obtained B.SC (1995) and an M.Sc (1996) in Aeronautical Engineering (specialized in Avionics - Aircraft Radio Communication, Navigation and Surveillance systems).
For his M.Sc. project, he designed a complex (air navigation processing) system based on Kalman’s digital filter for processing of radio navigation information from aircraft Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) and Inertial Reference Systems (IRS). The system enables aircraft to have continuous and accurate positional information for navigational purposes.
Earlier, he had spent one year at the University of Jos in Architecture- 1989/90
He completed his primary and secondary school education in 1983 and 1988 from Islamic Primary School and St. Josephs College, Vom respectively both in Plateau State.
Awards :
Plateau State Governor's award for his excellent performance in GCE/WAEC in 1988.
Full Federal Government scholarship by the Bureau for External Aids to study Avionics in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) in 1991.
Award for excellent performance in Russian language- 1991
Award for best performing 100-level student in Architecture in University Jos 1989/90 session.
FAA Gold Award- Government Aviation Safety Oversight Inspector-2001
Work Experience:
Immediately after his National Youth Service Corps at Nigerian College Aviation Technology(NCAT), he started his carrier as an Aircraft Maintenance Instructor with the NCAT (1996-2000) after which he joined the Nigeria CAA in 2000 as an Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI) where he worked for 8 years before leaving to acquire hands-on experience in the industry in 2008 as detailed below.
Engr.Balang served as a Safety and Quality Auditor/Inspector and rose to the position of Safety and Quality Manager where he successfully led the deployment and implementation of effective Safety Management Systems for various helicopter companies, involved in transportation of passengers to offshore locations, including Aero Contractors, Atlantic Aviation Ltd (CHC Helicopter Base in Nigeria) and Nesto Aviation Services Ltd.
Under leadership as Safety & Quality Manager, Shell granted Aero Contractors (Rotary wing) a green rating in HSE in one of their audits in 2013.
In 2017, resigned from a more lucrative job in the private sector to give back to the system by returning to the NCAA as GM-(AOC&S) from where he was appointed DAAS mid-2023, re-appointed DAAS in December 2023 till December,2025 and lastly appointed DAWS in December 2025.
He possesses comprehensive knowledge of Aircraft Certification, Air Operators Certification (AOC), Approved Maintenance Organization (AMO) Certification and Safety Management Systems from both regulatory and industry perspectives. He led the NCAA Type Acceptance Certification of the Airbus A220 among others.
Professional Qualifications:
He is a COREN registered engineer, a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and 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 software.
He is a qualified ISO 9001:2015 QMS Lead Auditor
Courses attended
Engr Balang has attended several aviation professional courses too many to list but worth mentioning a few attended 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.
Other Positions held:
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 rule-making 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 re-engineered 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 more efficient for both the NCAA and the airlines. He also re-engineered the current template of the AOC Operations Specifications in use currently in Nigeria.
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 standards Group dashboard (fsgdashboard.com) for which the DGCA has issued a letter of commendation to him and the team for supporting NCAA's drive for the use of technology in regulatory service delivery.
He served as a member of a high-level ministerial task force for the verification of the airworthiness status of aircraft and operational competences of commercial airline operators in the country.
As Director, Aerodrome and Airspace Standards (between August 2023 and December 2025) he got Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and Murtala Muhammed International Airport recertified and for the first time ever got Mallam Aminu Kano and Port Harcourt International Airports certified. He also initiated the process of certification of all aerodromes used for domestic scheduled Commercial Air Transport in Nigeria to be issued operational permits as required by Nig.CARs Part 12.
Additionally, for the very first time since establishment of NAMA and NIMET he initiated the process of their certification by NCAA as Air Navigation Service Providers. His other key achievement was the overhaul of the organizational structure of DAAS from three to five departments which made the directorate more effective and efficient in its safety oversight responsibility.
Lastly, he led the development of corrective action plans for the ICAO 2023 USOAP CMA Audit findings for Aerodrome and Ground Aids (AGA) and Air Navigation Services (ANS) for which 99% were accepted for implementation by ICAO.
As Chairman, Flight Standards Group (FSG), Engr. Balang coordinates safety oversight activities between two or more technical Directorates of NCAA (DAAS/DAWS/DOLTS). One of his achievements was his role in the creation of the Unmanned aircraft System Integration Unit (UASIU) by the DGCA, Capt. Chris Najomo. Since the UASIU creation, safety oversight activities of UAS/RPAS in Nigeria have become more effective and efficient. The first UAV/RPA training academy, Arco Worldwide, was approved under the leadership of Engr. Balang.
Furthermore, as Chairman FSG, he is leading the digital transformation of NCAA safety oversight system using EMPIC-software.
Finally, Engr. Balang headed the safety and emergency response committee for the first Nigeria International Airshow that took place in December, 2025
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.
