AIB releases preliminary reports on 3 Air Peace incidents

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) yesterday released preliminary reports on serious incidents involving three aircrafts owned and operated by Air Peace Limited.

The reports released included the incident involving Air Peace Limited B737-300 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BUK at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on May 15, 2019.

AIB also released the report on the incident involving the airline’s B737-500 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BRN at Port Harcourt International

Airport, Port Harcourt on June 22, 2019.

Also released is the report on the incident involving Air Peace Limited B737-300 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BQO at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on July 23, 2019.

In the July incident which occurred at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, the nose wheel of the aircraft collapsed and the aircraft “substantially damaged” according to the AIB. There were 133 passengers and six crew members on board who disembarked from the aircraft without injuries.

Though investigations into the three incidents are ongoing to establish the causal factors, the AIB issued immediate safety recommendations to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the airline.

In the July incident, the AIB recommended that NCAA should ensure that all airline operators review their Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to include procedure for isolating power to the cockpit voice recorder to preserve its contents from being overwritten, in the event of any reportable occurrence.

“Air Peace Limited should ensure that flight crew adheres to strict compliance with Company Operations Manual (OM Part A) Chapter 11 (11.4.3) on Preservation of Recordings.

The bureau also said the Air

Peace Limited should ensure that best handling technique is emphasized during crew training on single channel auto-pilot operation.

It however advised the NCAA to circulate an All Operators Letter (AOL) to airlines on the need for their crew to carry out emergency evacuation; being the best option, in the event of a serious incident or accident; with the aircraft structure compromised during landing or stops in an unapproved aircraft manoeuvring area.

“The investigations on these serious incidents are still on-going and final reports on these occurrences will be released at the conclusion of these investigations,” the bureau said.