Wole Shadare, Author at Aviation metric

Dangerous Game: Overwritten cockpit recorders, threat to air safety

Posted on August 18, 2026August 18, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The ‘overwriting’ of flight data recorder (FDR) is an insidious operational vulnerability that has continued to compromise global aviation safety, writes WOLE SHADARE In the delicate architecture of modern commercial aviation, trust is anchored to a small, brightly painted orange cylinder buried in the tail section of an aircraft: the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). For decades, this crash-survivable device, colloquially called the black box, has served as the ultimate arbiter of truth. It captures ambient sounds,…

United Nigeria Airlines Injects N20m to Rescue Chinua Achebe Fiction Prize for 10 Years

Posted on August 17, 2026 by Wole Shadare

United Nigeria Airlines (UNA) has stepped in to safeguard Nigeria’s literary heritage with a N20 million commitment to sponsor the annual Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction for the next decade. The deal, administered by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), guarantees an annual grant of N2 million over 10 years, effectively shielding the prestigious literary award from the uncertainties of government funding cycles. The long-term sponsorship agreement was finalised following high-level discussions between the Executive…

Minister petitions IATA over Osubi airport code ‘QRW’, orders airlines to drop ‘Warri’ label

Posted on August 17, 2026August 17, 2026 by Wole Shadare

In a bid to resolve lingering geographic and operational misalignments in Nigeria’s airspace data, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has formally petitioned the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to review the three-letter location code assigned to Osubi Airport in Delta State. The airport currently operates under the IATA code QRW and the ICAO indicator DNSU. Keyamo argues that the existing IATA code leans heavily on the broader Warri identity rather than…

IATA and Africa: What Have You Done for Me Lately?

Posted on August 17, 2026 by Wole Shadare

There is a particular question that every long-standing relationship eventually invites: What have you done for me lately? It is not necessarily always an accusation. Sometimes it is an invitation to take stock. Sometimes it is a demand for evidence. And sometimes it is simply the question asked by someone who has heard the promises for long enough and would now like to see the results. For African aviation, that question may reasonably be put to…

N500bn Drain: Reclassifying NCAA as a cost-recovery body critical for safe skies

Posted on August 17, 2026August 17, 2026 by Wole Shadare

For years, the Federal Government has treated the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as a national cash cow, misclassifying it as a “revenue-generating agency.” Under the sweeping automatic deduction policy, an estimated N500 billion ($362 million) derived from the 5% Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) has been systematically drained from the agency into the Consolidated Revenue Fund and the Treasury Single Account (TSA). To bureaucrats in Abuja, this half-a-trillion-naira windfall looked…

Pilot doctored black box after botched Asaba landing, says NSIB

Posted on August 14, 2026August 14, 2026 by Wole Shadare

Raises alarm over trend of pilots destroying flight data out of fear of sanctions Kicks against proposed slash of TSC allocation from 6% to 4% The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has revealed that the pilot of a Bombardier Challenger 601 private jet, operated by VMO Aero, intentionally overwrote the aircraft’s Flight Data Recorder (FDR) after a botched landing attempt at Asaba Airport, Delta State. The incident, which occurred on July 10, 2026, saw the…

Minister brokers peace deal to end aviation crisis, gives 1-Week TSC repayment deadline

Posted on August 13, 2026 by Wole Shadare

NCAA to enforce airline Unionisation rights The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, has brokered a peace deal between aviation unions, airline operators, and regulatory agencies, effectively dousing the industrial tension that recently paralysed flight operations across Nigerian airports and led to the picketing of Air Peace on Tuesday. The breakthrough came during an emergency stakeholders’ meeting held as a follow-up to the conditional suspension of the unions’ industrial action on August…

Aviation Strike: TUC warns of fresh action if issues persist

Posted on August 13, 2026 by Wole Shadare

Following the suspension of the industrial action embarked upon by the aviation workers under the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Comrade Festus Osifo, has warned that the unions could return to the trenches if the issues were not resolved. The unions have suspended their industrial action over the alleged refusal of some airlines to allow workers to unionise and the non-remittance of…

Leaking bucket: Automation failure, unremitted billions shadow NCAA, NAMA war

Posted on August 12, 2026August 12, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The current battle before lawmakers over amending the 5% Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) sharing formula pits two agencies squabbling over a shrinking slice of an uncollected pie, writes WOLE SHADARE Nigeria’s aviation sector is locked in a high-stakes fiscal staring contest. A quiet yet fierce proxy war erupted between two key sister agencies, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the nation’s Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), the Nigerian Airspace…

FAAN impounds six Air Peace buses after fleeing drivers block Lagos airport taxiway

Posted on August 12, 2026August 12, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has impounded six Air Peace coaster buses after they were used to block a taxiway at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos. The vehicles have been towed to the Lagos Airport Police Station as law enforcement launches a manhunt for the drivers, who reportedly fled the scene after parking on the active airfield. The high-level security breach followed a picketing exercise by aviation unions over two primary grievances:…

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