Nigeria: Another Misleading Report

BY CAPT. DANIEL OMALE

When the minister of aviation inaugurated a technical and administrative committee, shortly after the Dana Air accident, the terms of reference were unclear. The usual narrative of finding a lasting solution to aviation industry's crises was the theme.

The committee members, usually, would assume absolute, supreme authority over all other statutory aviation agencies in Nigeria. This temporary, shallow reaction always misleads committee members into deviating from the laid-down procedures, rules and regulations guiding air transportation.

The government, to appease the public, immediately after every fatal accident, hastily constitutes a committee to review the state of the sector, instead of tasking the various established aviation agencies. This irrational reaction on the part of government has created improper and inadequate aircraft accident investigation to ascertain the probable cause(s) of all aircraft accidents in Nigeria from 1996 to date.

Immediately after the Bellview Airline's fatal crash of 2005, Mrs Odutola was appointed by the then minister of aviation, Aborishade, on the order of the president, to head a technical committee to look into the issues facing aviation sector in the country. Again, the terms of reference were ambiguous. Armed with such an authority, Odutola and her team grounded for inspection all B737-200 series in Nigeria.

Neither Odutola nor anyone else in her team was qualified or authorized by the aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, to tamper with any part of its product. But the illusion of a bestowed presidential authority overshadowed her professional ethics, and she ignored all internationally accepted recommended standard practices that require that an approved maintenance organization render such inspection.

In addition, despite Boeing's modification bulletin of the 737-200 in the serial number regime, the committee viewed its mandate as superior and supreme to the standard air regulations.

For nearly four weeks, all the airlines operating the B737-200 series were grounded, and operators lost millions of dollars in revenue. The committee wrote and submitted its report, which ended in one of the trash cans of government shelves. Up to the time of writing this article, the report of the probable cause(s) of the Bellview accident has not been released.

In 2008, Air Vice Marshal Atawodi chaired another committee to unveil the disappearance of Wings Aviation Beech 1900, which vanished while en route to Bebi airfield, Obudu.

Again, without proper accident investigation by an appropriate authority, the committee erroneously blamed the accident on the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The discovery of the wreckage of the ill-fated aircraft clearly showed pilot error - another blunder in government's hasty decision.

The Dana Air accident of June 3, again, has stimulated the federal government to hastily constitute another panel independent of the parallel investigation by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), the professional agency responsible for all aircraft-related accidents in the nation.

Last week, the committee submitted its findings, which laid more emphasis on Dana Air accident. As expected, the report blamed the airline's maintenance records and the NCAA's safety oversight functions.

Like every other stakeholder, I am in a state of déjà vu, because although the commissioner of AIB was part of the panel, the committee members lack the merit and professional knowledge and skills to investigate Dana Air's accident and audit all schedule airlines in the country. This is a clear and concise statement devoid of an ambiguity, and I challenge anyone with a contrary view.

The biased nature of the report is obvious for the following reasons:

(1) Although I respect captains Omame and Udom as professional pilots, their involvement as ADC Airline's top management team during The airline's two fatal accidents render them unqualified to audit Dana Air and the NCAA. The NCAA as of today has refused to release to service, the Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) of ADC Airline because of the airline's irresponsible attitude to the families of the accidents' victims.

(2) Engr Onyiri was the immediate past director general of the NCAA, who was relieved of his job in the advent of the series of air crashes of 2005 and 2006 involving ADC, Bellview and Sosoliso airlines. How could he be selected as member of a panel to investigate the sector and the agency he failed to properly manage?

(3) Capt Mshelia has numerous times attacked Dr Demuren, the current director-general of the NCAA, for refusing to grant air operating permit to his company to operate a flying school. The NCAA cited incomplete documentation as its prime reason for the refusal.

(4) Although I respect Group Captain Obakpolor's (rtd) constant vigilance of the industry, his porous knowledge of civil aviation cannot justify his competence in auditing the industry.

The three committees mentioned above, in the end, failed to come up with the probable causes of the accidents.

A critical analysis of each committee's report shows personal sentiments devoid of straight-forward professional deductive templates.

Being an airline pilot or an aircraft engineer does not provide the necessary skills and knowledge of how to audit an airline or investigate an aircraft accident. Auditing and air crash investigation are specialized fields that require extra training. In Nigeria, only the trained NCAA and AIB personnel, in these fields, have the necessary knowhow to audit and investigate respectively.

Their authority in these fields must be encouraged, instead of inviting noise makers and superb lobbyists to further mislead the industry and government with incoherent abstractions.

We must, first, allow the AIB to come out with the probable cause(s) of Dana Air accident before any diluted, misleading report is entertained. This is the only professional way to follow, and it's the standard everywhere else on earth.

Nigeria's aviation industry can only grow and prosper if every stakeholder honestly and sincerely supports the existing structure with a view to genuinely move the country forward.

Again, unfortunately, those we consider aviation professionals in the country are throwing away rationality to play to the gallery for easy access to government and get their share of the national cake. Sadly, today, government is the only thriving business in Nigeria.

Daniel Omale writes a weekly (Friday) column with Leadership Newspaper, Abuja