February 24, (THEWILL) – The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), on Thursday released four final accident and serious incident reports and one safety bulletin to the public.
The reports released are those involving Quorum Aviation Limited’s Bell 206B3 Helicopter with registration 5N-BQW which occurred at Opebi, Lagos State on 28th August 2020.
The other is the accident involving Skypower Express Airways Nigeria Limited Air Tractor AT-401B Aircraft with registration 5N-BTV which occurred at Rukubi Village 90 NM South-East of Abuja on the 4th October 2018.
Also final report on the serious incident involving Nigeria Police Airwing Bell 429 Helicopter with registration 5N-MDA which occurred at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja on August 3rd, 2019 was released by the agency.
Other accident reports released were serious incidents involving Skypower Express Airways Nigeria Limited Cessna 172 Aircraft with registration 5N-APE at Bini Village, Niger State on November 19th,,2019 and bulletin report on the ground collision involving a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Truck with registration AKD765FK and Nigeria Air Force (NAF) Bell 412 Helicopter with registration NAF 600 which occurred at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on 15th June 2020.
Presenting the report commissioner, AIB, Akin Olateru, attributed the cause of Quorum Aviation accident to fuel exhaustion at low altitude and low speed leading to loss of control in flight.
Engr Olateru said “The decision to continue the flight towards the intended destination with insufficient fuel instead of landing as soon as practicable in line with section 12.12 of Quorum Aviation Limited Operations Manual Part A”.
“There was lack of effective management supervision of the airline’s flight operations and inadequate safety oversight of Quorum Aviation Limited”.
In its safety recommendation, AIB-N charged the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ensure that Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holders who wish to combine flight duties with multiple post holder positions provide NCAA with comprehensive safety risk mitigation measures to ensure that safe operation can be achieved.
It equally recommended that the NCAA should focus its safety oversight to ensure that the Quorum Aviation Limited takes steps to prevent further violation of its approved operating procedures and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations.
Also included in the safety recommendation is that Quorum Aviation Limited should ensure that all its personnel is well acquainted with their respective schedules of responsibilities and capable of discharging their duties effectively in accordance with the company’s Approved Standard Operating Procedures.
For the accident involving Skypower Express Airways Nigeria Limited Air Tractor AT-401B Aircraft with registration 5N-BTV, the AIB attributed the cause to an undetermined engine failure at a low altitude that necessitated the execution of emergency forced-landing on farmland.
The cause of serious incident involving Nigeria Police Airwing Bell 429 Helicopter with registration 5N-MDA which occurred on August 3, 2019, at Iyamho in Edo state was attributed to the lack of communication to update the crew on the current serviceability status of the ground handling wheel prior to arrival at DNAA.
As part of AIB’s safety recommendations, the Nigeria Police Airwing is tasked to develop a proper communication procedure for departing and arriving aircraft for information dissemination where necessary
About the Author
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
