Improving air safety amid incidents
Aviation is a highly volatile industry. Little human error, negligence or official gaffe can precipitate loss of lives beyond imagination. This is why the sector is highly regulated for the good of millions of people who travel by air. It is an indisputable fact that air transportation remains the fastest and safest means of transportation. Like the International Air Transport Association (IATA) observed, “It is the business of freedom.”
This is why it is imperative that members of the flying public must at all times be confident of their safety when they are suspended between 20,000 to 33,000 feet above sea level.
The aviation sector in Nigeria has in recent times been confronted with the vagaries of recent incidents which put fear in the minds of the public. Few incidents involving Nigerian airlines have compelled the people to query the safety of the country’s airspace.
Observers, analysts and experts believe the industry has not only met the safety requirements, but has moved a notch higher in terms of safety. This is attributed to the oversight activities of the regulatory authority, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which has deployed its technical resources in improving safe flight operations and achieving five years of accident-free regime.
Daily Trust reports that the last air accident experienced in the sector was on October 3, 2013, when an Associated Airline Flight 361 crashed on take-off from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), killing 15 of the 20 persons on board. The aircraft, a twin turboprop Embraer 120, was conveying the remains of a former Governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Agagu, to Akure when the incident happened. This was after the sector was riddled with intermittent air crashes which questioned the safety measures of the regulatory authority.
Five years down the line, the industry has maintained an accident-free record; an achievement made possible by aggressive oversight activities of the NCAA under Capt. Muhtar Usman as the Director General (DG).
Besides, the country has come out in flying colours in all the safety audits undertaken in recent years, including the very rigorous United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Category 1 (Cat. 1) audit. Cat. 1 audit allows any Nigerian airline to operate flights to the US airspace. Also, the country has regularly passed the ICAO safety audit; which implies that the aviation sector in Nigeria is not only safe but surpasses all safety metrics anywhere in the world.
“I can tell you that this sector is overregulated. The NCAA is always on our toes, it hardly takes anything for granted when it comes to safety,” an airline official confirmed to our correspondent.
One of the factors which has contributed to the improvement in air safety is the appointment of the new NCAA DG late in 2014 after the authority experienced leadership instability with the appointments of many acting DGs.
Usman’s ascension into office brought stability in the system and prepared ground for a far-reaching repositioning anchored on improving the technical capabilities of the safety inspectors and licensing officers who interface with airlines and their officials to ensure the right things are not only done but are certified to have been carried out with the ultimate aim of improving safety of air transportation.
Highlighting some of the things done to improve safe flight operations, Muhtar said,
“I will say since we came in, we first of all tried to sustain, and then after sustaining, we started building and improving what we met on ground. Currently, in the area of air worthiness, we are able to train two ICAOcertified instructors from the time we came to date, and those are the only ones.
“Two, we have one certified ICAO auditor, and this happened within the last four years. In the area of operations also, we have certified instructors from ICAO.
“In the area of licensing, we have one inspector. However, about 10 are being projected for the auditor certification. And once they have that auditor certification, they will also be utilised by ICAO to be auditing other countries.
“So, we are working very hard to ensure that nobody is left behind; especially that Nigeria is not left behind. Towards that end, we have MoU with countries, which include Rwanda, Ghana and Sierra Leone. We provide them with technical manpower for the purpose of inspection, especially in the area of flight operations inspection.”
According to him, the agency tried to improve infrastructure, especially security surveillance equipment such as the Close Circuit Television (CCTV ).
“When we came in, the internet facility was very, very epileptic, if at all it was available. However, we have now provided fibre optics link in all our offices here in Lagos, the regional offices, even though it is still work in progress. We are hoping that the office in Abuja will even be made a fully smart office. Part of the ICT infrastructure that we have put in place already has automated the human resources part,” he added.
Usman further stated that, “We also have one serving in Namibia under the ICAO arrangement, and Nigeria is also a member of the Banjul Accord Group Safety Oversight Organisation, with headquarters in Abuja. I, as DG was chairman until November last year; for two years.”
Recently, some airlines were involved in some incidents which sent fear down the spines of Nigerians. There had been many incidents like that involving virtually all the airlines operating in the country.
But the NCAA insists that despite the “isolated” incidents, “The authority is on top of the situation”, assuring air travelers that “there is no cause for worry.”
Spokesman of NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, in reaction to a recent incident, assured members of the flying public that “all the aircraft on the fleet of NCAA authorised Air Operators Certificate (AOC) holders operating in Nigeria are air worthy,” adding that NCAA would continue to ensure only air worthy aircraft were permitted to operate.
Many analysts say the accident-free feat recorded in the last five years is not a mean achievement. They opine that this must be sustained and improved upon to get more people flying, and then improve the stand of the country’s aviation sector.
President of the National Association of Airline Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Comrade Abdnego Galadima, said the regulatory authority had done credibly well in oversighting the industry, adding that, “We can give them a pass mark.”
He said he was particularly thrilled that NCAA passed the recent ICAO safety audit by utilising the in-house manpower unlike in the past when consultants would be used.
“While we believe there is room for improvement, we want to commend the leadership. You know leadership is a key index in rating the performance of the organisation. I want to say that the leadership has done creditably well and the airlines have also improved in recent times,” he said.