Nigeria yet to implement air safety recommendations — AIB

Nigeria faces the risk of fresh air crashes following indication that it has ignored about 12 safety measures, which led to air disasters in the past.

The Commissioner, Accident Investigation Bureau, Captain Mukhtar Usman, in a document, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent on Friday, disclosed that 12 safety recommendations arising from the agencies’ investigations into previous air crashes in the country, had yet to be implemented.

Usman said that till date, AIB had made a total of 32 safety recommendations, out of which 20 had been implemented while 12 others had remained ‘open items’ in the agency’s books.

He said, “As at now, AIB has made more than 32 safety recommendations, with 20 accepted and closed while 12 are still open,” he said.

He said, “AIB is one of the major drivers of aviation safety and its great promoter. Accident investigation offers the industry the opportunity to prevent accidents by applying the lessons learnt from previous occurrences.

“At AIB, we have the mandate to investigate aircraft accidents and serious incidents with a view to determining the circumstances that led to such occurrences and make safety recommendations that can help in preventing future reoccurrence. Safety recommendations are vital tools for preventing accidents.”

The AIB boss did not disclose the pending ‘open items’ in the agency’s books.

He, however, listed some of the safety recommendations already implemented by the government as the acquisition and installation of total radar coverage of Nigeria’s airspace; low level wind shear equipment at major airports; Doppler weather radar; and conducting certain special overseas training for aviation personnel among others.

The AIB commissioner also said that although the Bellview Airlines and ADC Airlines crashes reports were yet to be released to the public, government had started implementing some of the safety recommendations made by the agency from those accidents.

The Bellview and ADC tragic crashes killed a total of 214 people in October 2005 and October 2006, respectively.

On October 22, 2005, Bellview Airlines Flight 210, a Boeing 737-200 aircraft, crashed shortly after taking off from Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos en route to the Nigerian capital Abuja, killing all 117 people on board.

Also, on October 29, 2006, Sokoto-bound ADC Airlines Flight 53 crashed shortly after taking off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, killing 97 people including one person on ground.

The ADC’s Boeing 737 contacted the ground, broke up and caught fire in a corn field. The flight had 104 people on board, including the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido, who was also killed in the crash. Some other tragic crashes investigated by AIB involved Sosoliso Airlines in Port Harcourt, EAS Airlines in Kano and Nigeria Airways Fokker 27 in Enugu.

Culled: Punchng