75 percent of air crashes traced to human errors ― AIB

Nigeria’s Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) Commissioner, Mr Akin Olateru, has again declared that 75 percent of air crashes and accidents occur due to human errors.

Some of the human factors he said to him included inadequate training for technical personnel, poor facilities, fatigue and poor communication between the cockpit and the control tower amongst others.

Olateru who was speaking on a conference to be organized by the bureau in conjunction with aviation journalists on the need to reduce the high rate of human errors in air accidents in the Nigerian aviation sector, explained that like the majority of accidents, the aviation disasters could have been prevented if the necessary precautionary measures were put in place or observed to stop their occurrences.

According to Olateru, though, a few of the human errors in Nigeria in recent time did not necessarily lead to loss of human lives, he, however, lamented that replacement of any damaged parts in aircraft due to human errors costs the operators millions of naira, which could have been channelled to other important aspects of their operations.

The AIB Commissioner expressed hope that through the conference, the aviation sectir across the globe especially in Nigeria would be safer, insisting that some of the serious incidents and accidents were avoidable.

On the coming conference, Olateru said that the bureau decided to partner with League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) because of its antecedents in organising successful conferences with useful communiqué, adding that as a league of journalists, the association had in several occasions, promoted air safety and robust journalism.

He said: “After an analysis of the several accident reports we have released since 2017, it has become apparent that about 75 percent of these accidents and incidents have resulted from human factors. This conference is part of the fulfilment of AIB’s mandate of preventing accident occurrences and reoccurrence and public advocacy of accident situational management.

“LAAC is a dependable ally in this project, considering the various conferences that the association has held in recent years, which have impacted the industry positively. The conference is expected to among other things, educate airline and airport operators, aviation agency personnel, aviation reporters, accident emergency responders and other stakeholders on measures that can help reduce human factors in air accident and incident occurrences while equipping aviation reporters with more knowledge for accurate reportage of accident and incident occurrences.”

The conference which will be held physically and virtually is scheduled to hold on January 15, 2021 in Lagos at 9 a.m with the theme: ‘Preventing Human Factors In Accident Occurrences.’

The event will draw key players like airline operators, airport operators, investigators, safety inspectors, pilots, engineers and Air Traffic Controllers (ATC).

Due to the Covid-19 protocols and the guidelines set out by the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on Covid-19 and the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), physical participation is limited to only 80 guests, while others would join the conference virtually through the Zoom network.

Speaking on the coming conference, the Secretary of the Conference Planning Committee, Mr. Albinus Chiedu, said that the conference was important in order to improve safety in Nigeria’s aviation industry.

His words: “Safety can never be swept under the carpet. In recent time, AIB-N as an investigator has fully woken up to its duties. Since the appointment of the Commissioner of the bureau, a total of 40 final reports have been released to the public, which make up of 67.8 per cent of AIB-N’s total of 59 final reports released since inception in 2007. This is unprecedented in the annals of Nigeria’s aviation industry. Such a man needs the support of all.”

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