Barely two months after the presidency handed
over two aircraft in the Presidential fleet to the Nigerian Air Force,
investigation has revealed that one of the ballistics defence capable aircraft
has been seemingly, poorly managed and crashed at the Nigerian Air Force base,
Makurdi.
TheNewsGuru.com gathered from a top, reliable
source that one of the aircraft, Agusta AW 101, a medium-lift helicopter
specially designed for military operations, got crashed less than a month after
the Nigerian Air Force took delivery of it from the presidency, due to poor
training of crew members saddled to man the operations of the aircraft.
The
two aircraft at the handover ceremony on October 10, 2016
When contacted, the Nigerian Air Force,
P.R.O., Group Captain Dele Famuyiwa, denied the report that one of the aircraft
crashed.
In a telephone conversation with
TheNewsGuru.com, Famuyiwa said that the aircraft was not involved in a crash
but an incidence of little effect.
“It was not a crash. I wouldn’t call it
a crash because it just fell on the ground in Makurdi.”
“I can say maybe it was an incident.
You know accident is a higher degree of incidence. It was just an occurrence
that did not take any life or equipment. Cars can malfunction and the same
thing with any machine.”
Famuyiwa said that the incidence was
not in away a result of low training and skill of crew member as the same crew
which managed the aircraft at the presidency still manage the aircraft at the
air force base.
 |
| The two helicopters during the handing over recently |
However, pictures obtained by
TheNewsGuru as well as the information gathered, revealed that the aircraft was
in a damaged position.
He
confirmed that the aircraft have since been repainted from the initial
white and green to camouflage.
Asked
about the status of the aircraft and the number of persons affected by the
crash, our source revealed that although the damages were significant, no life
was lost to the crash.
“No
fatality but significant damage to aircraft considering the fact that they
hardly do insurance in the military.”
“The
flight engineer was injured.”
It
was gathered that one of the aircraft was due for a Periodic Deport
Maintenance, PDM, only a day after the handover ceremony from the Presidency to
the Nigerian Air Force.
The
Presidency had on October 10, 2016 handed over the two ballistics defence
capable aircraft from the Presidential fleet to the Nigerian Air Force, with a
view to reduce government’s expenditure.
During
the handover ceremony at the Presidential wing of the Abuja Airport, the Chief
of Air Staff, AVM Abubakar who received the aircraft said one of the aircraft
would be configured and deployed as ambulance while the second would be
deployed as troop carrier, especially for operations against the Boko Haram
sect in the North-eastern region of the country.
Findings
by the TheNewsGuru revealed that the aircraft, Agusta AW101, which is a large
armoured helicopter cost about $21million each (N10.5billion) making it 130%
more expensive than the average aircraft of its class.
With
the crash of the aircraft, it is apparent that Nigeria may have, despite the
crush of an economic recession, lost about N10.5billion to the airforce
handling and operating of one of the two aircraft.
Further
investigation on the status of the second aircraft released to the Air Force,
revealed that it is currently parked for maintenance, a situation which the Air
Force P.R.O. confirmed.
The
two aircraft were bought by the Federal Government between October 20, 2014 and
May 21, 2015.
Famuyiwa
explained that activities are on to fully optimise the aircraft for military
usage as the aircraft were originally designed for State use, flying VIPs,
leaving the aircraft with limited seats and space for military activities.
He
further said that while the reconfiguration process is on, the aircraft had
been in use until the recent incidence on one of the aircraft while the second
has been turned in for maintenance.
According
to him, one of the aircraft was used in flying the 21 Chibok girls, who were
recently rescued from the Boko Haram sect, to Abuja.
Famuyiwa,
however, did not confirm when the aircraft will be fully functional and ready
for usage.
Amour-plated
with 6pax max, Agusta AW101 is capacitated to transport up to 30 passengers, 11
more than competitors of a similar size, having a spacious cabin and toilet
facility.
The
AW101 can fly as far as 570 nautical miles on a tank of fuel, a range that’s
143 mi farther than other similarly sized rotorcraft. Its maximum altitude
ceiling (HOGE) is 1300 feet, which is 4,710 ft lower than average for its class.
Top speed comes in at 150 knots, or right on par with the speed of the average
large helicopter.
Source:The
News Guru
Tags
Society