Helicopter crash: NCAA dismisses reports about aircraft’s airworthiness

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has debunked reports concerning the airworthiness of the helicopter that crashed in Port Harcourt last Friday.

The NCAA said the reports, as published by an online outlet, were wrong, adding that the helicopter that suffered a crash had never been scrapped.

Acting Director-General of the NCAA, Captain Chris Najomo, in a statement, said: “The attention of the authority has been brought to a report on the airworthiness status of the recently crashed helicopter with registration marks 5N-BQG prior to the crash.

“In their report, it was stated that the aircraft was initially registered in the year 2004 as 5N-BGN with Aero Contractors, after which it was deregistered to Canada in the year 2009. The report then went on to state that the aircraft registration was cancelled in September 2018 after it was ‘presumably scrapped’.

“Their report was concluded with a question of how the helicopter was moved to Nigeria and registered as 5N-BQG before the crash.

“Based on our records, the following items are stated here to correct the wrong information published by the Sahara reporters on the subject matter:

“It is important to state that aircraft can be tracked not only by their registration marks but also by their Manufacturer Serial Number (MSN). The 5N-BQG S76C+ helicopter has its MSN as 760486, while the 5N-BGN S76C+ helicopter has its MSN as 760468.

“The S76C+ helicopter with registration marks 5N-BGN and MSN:760468 was initially registered at the age of 7 years on July 15, 2004, with Aero Contractors as the operator and Capital Aviation Services B.V. as the registered owner. The registration was re-issued on December 13, 2006, when the ownership of the helicopter changed to RBS Aerospace Limited. The S76C+ helicopter with registration marks 5N-BGN and MSN:760468 was de-registered by Aero Contractors on February 18, 2009, to Transport Canada.

“The S76C+ helicopter with registration marks 5N-BQG and MSN:760486 was initially registered at the age of 14 years on the 10th DEC.2012 with Nestoil Plc as the registered operator and owner. The registration was re-issued on July 13, 2021, as a result of a change of operator to OMNI-BLU Aviation LTD. and an ownership change to DANBA Associates LIMITED. A further amendment of the registration was done on May 30, 2022, when the ownership changed to EASTWIND AVIATION LOGISTICS SERVICES LIMITED while maintaining OMNI-BLU as the operator.

“The final amendment to the registration was on February 27, 2024, when the operator of the S76C+ helicopter with registration marks 5N-BQG and MSN: 760486 was changed to EASTWIND AVIATION LOGISTICS SERVICES LIMITED. By this action, EASTWIND AVIATION LOGISTICS SERVICES LIMITED became the registered operator and owner of the helicopter.

“Based on the following data from our records, it is clear that the report could not clearly differentiate the records of the recently crashed EASTWIND AVIATION LOGISTICS SERVICES LIMITED S76C+ Helicopter with registration mark 5N-BQG and MSN: 760486 and the AERO CONTRACTORS DE-REGISTERED S76C+ Helicopter with registration marks 5N-BGN and MSN: 760468.”