JUST last week, the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) led by its present commissioner, Engineer Akin Olateru released the report of four of the pending air crashes recorded in the country’s air transport sector in the recent past.
The reports of the crashes released were those of: Dana Air MD83 fatal plane crash of June 3rd, 2012 which crashed into the densely populated area of Iju/Ishaga in Lagos killing all the 153 people on board and on ground and that of AOS helicopter crash of July 29th, 2011 which crashed at Oke-Oba Hill, Ikonifin, Osun State killing three passengers on board.
The report of a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter belonging to Bristow which crashed into the lagoon on February 27th, 2013 and that which involved the Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Safety and Security (PICOMSS) with Registration 5N-BKS which crashed at Benin Airport on 5th July, 2012 were also released to the public.
Of all the reports released, the most controversial were those involving the Dana Air and OAS Helicopters which led to the loss of over 156 lives.
While the present management of AIB deserves commendation for making the reports available years after the crashes occurred, the report however has been generating concerns not only among key players in the sector but among generality of Nigerians particularly the traveling public and families of the victims of the crashes.
In aviation, emergencies are bound to occur but the final roles played by the pilots and other crew members become very critical to what happens eventually.
It is as a result of the important roles the pilot and the co-pilot are expected to play when faced with sudden challenges that the civil aviation authorities all over the world focus serious attentions on them.
Obviously, before any one is certified as a pilot to take command of any aircraft particularly commercial aircraft, he or she is expected to have gone through all the required trainings and other critical exercises including ability to adequately man the machine, his ability to take prompt action in times of emergencies for the good end result of landing the plane and those on board safely.
Therefore, in ensuring all these are achieved, the status of any pilot and the crew require utmost attention by the aviation authorities including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
The need for the NCAA to urgently review all issues relating to the status of pilots and other crew members in charge of commercial aircraft becomes inevitable with the attribution of most of the terrible crashes to human errors.
Of major concern was the findings on the pilot of the ill fated Dana crash which stated that he was once suspended in 2009 by the United States Federal AviationAdministration for some “misdemeanours related to a heavy landing and fixing of panels that were neither entered in the aircraft logbook nor reported”.
Also, the revalidated licence issued to the pilot by NCAA was stamped but not signed by any NCAA official while most of the recommendation letters submitted by the Captain were also not signed.
Equally, the crash of the AOS Helicopters was attributed to the non-adherence of the Pilot to Visual Flight Rules of clear-of cloud and obstacles while maintaining ground contact at all times led to Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT).
While contributory factors that led to the AOS crash stated that the Pilot was not Instrument Rated and lacked route familiarization, the report also declared that the decision of the crew to continue the glide approach despite repeated landing gear warnings with the power lever below 25% rather than initiating a Go-around contributed to the OAS crash.
All these findings have only pointed to one fact that the country’s regulatory body, the NCAA has serious questions waiting for answers with particularly emphasis on if all required background checks were actually carried out on the said pilot and even other pilots operating in the country.
It is at this juncture that the Crucial Moment is calling on the NCAA to critically review the report of the crashes with a view to also reviewing the competency of those in its licensing and airworthiness departments because it a sheer negligence for the authority to certify a pilot who was placed on suspension by the U.S. to hurriedly be certified in Nigeria to fly a commercial plane.
The need for the NCAA to critically reexamine itself and its officials become pertinent as the findings on the the cause of the Dana Air and other crashes has put to question its competence vis a vis its grip on the books of the pilots particularly the foreign pilots operating in the country’s airspace.
Peoples’ lives are too precious to be lost so cheaply like the lives of the sweet victims of the Dana Air crash who were cut down by the negligence of few.