Bad
weather conditions, faulty or poorly maintained aircrafts and the failure of
pilots to adhere to safety instructions were key factors responsible for the
various air crashes and accidents which rocked Nigeria in the very recent
years, a new report by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has
revealed. The AID report covered air accidents involving Bellview
Airlines Flight 210 that crashed in Lisa, Ogun State on October 22, 2005,
killing all 117 passengers on board.
The reports include those involving Sosoliso in Port-Harcourt
Airport in 2005 where over a hundred school children of the prestigious Loyola
Jesuit College and a popular preacher, Bimbo Odukoya met their death. For the
Sosoliso crash, the weather reports obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological
Agency (NIMET), and the one compiled from the Satellite Imagery by the Boeing
Aircraft Company(USA), showed that there was a change in the wind speed and
direction when the aircraft was approaching the station.
Other reports are AIB interim report on Beechcraft 1900D
accident at Bushi Village in Obanlinku Local Government of Cross River State on
March 15, 2008, report on the accident to Boeing 737 aircraft registered 5N-AUA
that crashed at the new Kaduna Airport on November 13, 1995, the 2008 Nigeria Police
Force’s Bell 412 helicopter and the September 7th accident involving DHL,
Registration ZS-DPF, at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos
and on the accident involving TAMPICO Club 9 Aircraft, Reg. 5N-CBF at Zaria,
Kaduna State on October 10, 2006, among others.
While the Bellview crash was attributed to operations of
unserviceable aircraft, excessive workload and fatigue of the captain, the
Aviation Development Company (ADC) crash which claimed the lives of the sultan
of Sokoto and 92 others in Tungar Madaki, Abuja, near the Nnamdi Azikiwe
Airport,was attributed to the pilot’s decision to take-off in known adverse
weather conditions and failure to execute the proper wind shear recovery
procedure which resulted in operating the aircraft outside the safe flight
regime, causing the aircraft to stall very close to the ground from which
recovery was not possible.
According to the report, the inability of the ADC flight crew to
apply wind shear recovery procedures and the use of inappropriate equipment for
wind shear recovery procedure during simulator recurrence and lack of company
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in adverse weather conditions were also
causal factors. Detailing the history of the ill-fated ADC flight, the AIB
report noted that the B737-200 aircraft night-stopped at Calabar on Saturday,
October 28, 2006, departed for Lagos in the morning of October 29, 2006, and
landed in Lagos at 08:25hours.
The absence of forensic evidence according to the report
prevented the determination of the captain’s medical condition at the time of
the accident. The report equally indicted the operator of the ill-fated airline
for not maintaining the continuing airworthiness of its aircraft, in ensuring
compliance of its flight and maintenance personnel with the regulatory
requirements. The Civil Aviation Authority’s safety oversight of the operator’s
procedures and operations was inadequate. Bellview flight 210 was on a
scheduled passenger flight from Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos for Nnamdi
Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The aircraft was operated on an Instrument Flight Rule (IFR)
plan and departed MMA at 2035 hrs with 117 persons on board. “The controller
tower observed the aircraft execute a right-hand turn and instructed the crew
to contact Approach Control. The Control instructed the crew toreport passing
FL130 (13,000feet) or when crossing LAG located at 6nm from the threshold 18L.
The last contact with BLV210 by Approach Control was at 20: 36 hours,” the
report concluded.
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