Incident concealment: Time bomb for Nigeria’s aviation

The occurrence of many aviation safety infractions give cause for concern.WOLE SHADAREwrites that the aviation regulatory and the accident investigative bodies need to be resolute on safety matters

Risks mitigation
Timely reporting of hazards, incidents or accidents is seen as an essential activity of aviation safety and risk management. One can safely say that airlines are preparing the ground for disaster if they conceal or fail to report hazards or safety related issues.

Without an effective hazard/safety reporting culture, there is no way that any aviation service provider can demonstrate continuous improvement to their aviation safety management system (SMS).
The foregoing points to the perceived rift between the Accident Investigation [AIB], Air Peace and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority [NCAA] over alleged concealment of accident/incident reports that generated furore in the country’ aviation industry.

Face-off
Aside concealment of accident/ incident reports to the relevant aviation authorities, airlines pilots and crew are known to have flown or still fly with expired licence and health records.

They have been caught many times with expired Airline Operator Certificate [AOC] certificates; a situation that put the lives of people in jeopardy.
The accident investigative body has taken a swipe at Nigeria’s biggest carrier for allegedly not notifying it at the appropriate time, explaining in a statement it made available to the media that on June 5, 2019, the Bureau received notification about a serious incident involving a Boeing 737-300 aircraft with Registration Marks 5N-BUK, belonging to Air Peace Limited from a passenger-on-board.
Commissioner, AIB, Akin Olateru stated that the said incident occurred on May 15, 2019, while the aircraft was on approach to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos from Port Harcourt.

The aircraft was said to have experienced a hard landing, as it touched down on the runway (18R). Upon receipt of the notification, he noted that the Bureau visited Air Peace Limited office and confirmed the said occurrence, adding that the agency further conducted a damage assessment on the aircraft, which revealed that the air-craft made contact on the runway with the starboard engine cowling as obvious from various scrapes, scratches and dents, an evidence of tyre scouring on the sidewalls of the No. 4 tyre.
There was also visible damage to the right-hand engine compressor blades.

Of utmost concern is the fact that till date, the AIB has received no notification of the incident: three weeks after the date of occurrence, contrary to ICAO Annex 13, which guides the operations of aircraft accident investigation procedures.

Rather, the Bureau further to the occurrence, received a submission of a ‘Mandatory Occurrence Report’ (MOR) subsequently filed at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), on June 7, 2019, which filing was as a direct result of the Bureau’s visit to Air Peace office on the 6th day of June 2019.”

Similarly, Olateru stated that in recent times, an aircraft belonging to Air Peace Limited was also involved in a serious incident, hinting that the airline wilfully failed to comply with the provisions of the Bureau’s regulations.

General Manager, Public Affairs of AIB, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi, said the airline’s Accountable Manager and Chief Pilot at the material time, were duly warned by the Bureau for non-compliance with the regulations.

He said based on all the foregoing, it was obvious that Air Peace Management lacks the full understanding of the statutory mandates, functions and procedures of the bureau
The airline has stoutly denied that it concealed serious incident information from the AIB, describing it as incorrect.

Chairman of the airline, Mr. Allen Onyema told woleshadarenews that when the incident happened, the airline reported to the regulatory agency, NCAA and also wrote to Boeing and the manufacturer of the aircraft’s engine, CFM International.

“When the incident occurred, we reported it to NCAA,” he insisted. “We followed the aircraft manual, which guided us on what to do when such incident occurred. We wrote to Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer and also wrote to the engine manufacturer, CFM International. We also grounded the aircraft.

“We always report any incident to NCAA and, sometimes, you may not know what to report to AIB because the NCAA is the regulatory authority and the Bureau is in charge of accident investigation.
“So when incident like hard landing happens and you inform NCAA, we feel we have followed the procedure. Boeing has written back to us and has told us what to do, according to the procedure. Currently, inspection is being carried out on the aircraft,”

Delta Airlines example
AIB has come out to say it does not have any personal issues with Air Peace, saying it was only carrying out its functions as stipulated by law. The agency maintained that ignorance of the law and provision under, which it acted was not enough for the airline to cry blue murder.

Olateru cited similar incident with United States airline, Delta Airlines that apologised to AIB February last year over the airline’s failure to notify the government agency of the emergency landing involving its Airbus 330-200 aircraft. He said the airline should simply have apologised rather than whip up, ‘unnecessary sentiments.’

It would be recalled that Atlanta bound Delta Flight 55, which departed Lagos Tuesday night returned several minutes later to Murtala Muhammed International Airport following an issue with one of the Airbus 330-200’s two engines.

The Nigerian accident investigation body had frowned at the American carrier’s failure to notify it of the serious incident involving its aircraft in line with Nigerian air safety regulations and international practice.

The airline was believed to have notified the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the occurrence immediately in line with the US laws.

Nigeria, as the state of occurrence under the International Civil Aviation organisation (ICAO) Annex 13 is responsible for investigating any aircraft occurrences within her airspace. The State of registry of the aircraft and the airline may serve as observers.

A team of the airline officials including the technical crew of the flight and the airlines Lagos Airport Station, Miss Shannon Masters, Manager, Air Safety Investigation expressed the airline’s regret for the oversight, stressing that it was not intentional.
Said Masters: ‘We sincerely apologised for the error and we promise to cooperate with AIB in the investigation of this occurrence.”

Expert’s view
Former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Group Capt. John Ojikutu said: “I have read the report. The conducts of the pilots and the operator is beyond the violations of those pilots and their operators who were reported to have been flying with expired medical license. To even hear that the operator tampered with the aircraft’s CVR, is a criminal offence and will be surprised if the sanctions would be anything less than suspension of the airline AOC.”

Last line
The objective of mandatory occurrence reporting is to prevent safety occurrences, such as accidents and incidents, not to attribute blame or liability if they happen. The person filing a safety report needs to have the strong assurance from the regulatory authority and the employer that prosecution or punitive actions such as suspension of licence will not be sought unless the unsafe act is deliberately committed or gross negligence is demonstrated.

Wole Shadare