NCAA issues safety alert over US aircraft fire incidence

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has issued an All Operators Letter (AOL) 070 requiring mandatory compliance with the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Emergency Airworthiness Directive by all operators in Nigeria with immediate effect.

The directive was sequel to the recent incident in US where one of the engines of Boeing 737-700 aircraft belonging to Southwest Airline was engulfed in fire mid-air.

The incident prompted the authorities in US to issue the directive on all airlines operating in America.

The AOL which was endorsed by Engr. Kayode Ajiboye on behalf of Capt Muhtar Usman, Director General NCAA dated 23rd April, 2018 addressed to all airlines and aircraft owners is for immediate compliance, the NCAA said in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Sam Adurogboye.

Upon the receipt of FAA Emergency Airworthiness Directive AD 2018-0951, the NCAA said it swung into action by carrying out a review on all the airlines to determine the operators of aircraft type with CFM56-7B engines essentially affected by the circular.

Findings however showed that only two operators have the aircraft type in question in their fleet.

According to the NCAA, “the good news is that they are yet to reach the 30,000 cycles to which the Emergency AD requires immediate ultrasonic inspection of the fan blades within 20 days.”