Ozoka’s AIB comment, cocktail of ignorance, self-contradictions, confusion, mischief

Our attention has been drawn to a publication attributed to one Mr. Angus Ozoka in which he engaged in an unwarranted attack on Accident Investigation Bureau. 

The writer was purportedly commenting on a press statement issued by the Bureau; wherein it had warned airlines against not notifying AIB of the occurrence of air accidents and serious incidents.

The Bureau had resolved not to engage in a public debate with anybody, on the statement it issued: however, AIB is constrained to respond to Ozoka, because of certain misleading information in his said publication which if not corrected, has the potentials to misinform the public.

The entire write up is a sad cocktail of ignorance, self-contradictions, confusion and/or outright mischief that can threaten air safety.

The Bureau had issued a press statement which amongst other things, expressed displeasure over Air Peace conspiracy of silence in respect of the serious incident involving one of its Boeing 737 aircraft that experienced a hard landing in Lagos; inflicting it with damage and rendering the aircraft unserviceable.

An excerpt of the press statement disclosed that “A damage assessment on the aircraft by AIB revealed that the aircraft 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 as well as bottoming of the main landing gear oleo struts. There was also visible damage to the right-hand engine compressor blades”.

 Drawing from the above excerpt, Mr Ozoka, author of the write up claimed that, “the damage assessment by AIB did not reveal that an accident or serious incident occurred as Hard Landing does not equate to an accident or serious incident”.

How far from the truth this submission portends? It either reveals ignorance of the author or suggests outright mischief. In response thereto, it would do the author some good if he can please visit the AIB website, download and painstakingly read and digest the AIB’s Regulation – Nigeria Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents and Incidents) Regulations 2016, now in 2019 official Gazette.

He may also wish to reset and refresh his memory on the definition and examples of serious incidents and accidents by perusing International Civil aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 13 attachment “C”; because it would appear that he is oblivious of, or no longer conversant with current laws and regulations having last served over a decade ago.

Section 29 of the Civil Aviation Act 2006, which is the Act establishing the Accident Investigation Bureau, confers on it thePREROGATIVE toDETERMINE the classification of an accident or serious incidents. It is therefore not for the airline operator or for any other individual like the author of the above referenced comments, to so do.

Therefore for Mr. Ozoka to pretend that an occurrence that requires the intervention of the aircraft and engine manufacturers and replacement of components of the aircraft (as admitted by Air Peace), is not a serious incident is not only sad but tragic.

To further put it succinctly in perspective the crucial issues seeking to be addressed and achieved, 4 pertinent questions need to be asked and answered viz:

1.Did the two Air Peace occurrences happen? The answer is YES!

2.Are they classified as serious incidents? By all regulatory standards, YES!

3.Did Air Peace officially notify AIB when it happened in accordance with extant laws and regulation? The answer is NO! The airline has not denied that it did not notify AIB.

4. Did Air Peace violate or fail to comply with the law? YES, they did and AIB has every fact that support its claim.

It is noteworthy to reemphasize that AIB did not claim that the airline did not file a Mandatory Occurrence Report with Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) but rather that it did not notify AIB, the agency statutorily charged with investigating serious incidents and accidents.

AIB is a separate and distinct organization from the NCAA and both have varying roles, functions, responsibilities and statutory mandates. Part of AIB’s mandate is what she is doing to safeguard the safety of over 180million Nigerian people. This she seeks to achieve by investigating accident and serious incidents with the overriding purpose of unearthing the cause of the occurrence and to proffer safety recommendations that would prevent future recurrence thus safeguarding safer skies. Furthermore, the Civil Aviation Act 2006, empowers the Commissioner of AIB to investigate any incident from which he thinks safety value can be derived.
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This is not the first time AIB has issued a Press Statement over an airline’s non-compliance with the regulatory requirement of notifying AIB of an occurrence: and we venture to say it may not be the last if airlines continue in similar infractions.

AIBs press statement was to call to order the airline that had foisted on itself a ‘culture of silence’ and habit of non-compliance in notification of incidents. This is unacceptable to AIB because the airline may be denying the industry and the general public the opportunity that would have the outcome of unearthing the cause of the occurrence, and proffer recommendations that will prevent future recurrence.

Other fallacies in the writer’s submissions and AIBs response:

(I)“If, by chance, Air Peace, which is unarguably the leading airline in Nigeria, lacks full understanding of AIB’s mandates etc., then it will be very safe to conclude that other airlines in the country equally lack this “full understanding.” This is fallacy! The fact that one airline has violated a statutory requirement does not mean there are no other airlines complying.

(II) “Press releases are only targeted at regulators and aircraft manufacturers for timely measures to enhance safety and not to airline operators”. This is also fallacy! Calling airlines and other service providers to order and to respect extant law and regulatory provision governing accident and incident investigation is within the purview of the Bureau. The primary purpose this serves is to enhance safety of all air travelers, which outweighs all other considerations.

It’s is therefore very unfortunate for a person of the author’s caliber and erstwhile status to mislead the public by his uninformed opinions which is at variance with the law. Aviation is a highly dynamic and highly regulated industry. The wheel of change in Regulation, Standards and Practices are quick-paced and frequent, mostly driveninter alia, by the learning curve associated with safety values derived from safety recommendations arising out of investigations into occurrences.

You will recall that when Delta Airline, an American carrier, violated the provisions of our National law as they failed to report their serious incident to the Bureau, their attention was brought to same and they immediately apologized, complied with the law and cooperated with AIB.

Air Peace has formally notified AIB on the serious incident and is fully cooperating with our Safety Investigators as we have commenced investigations into the Air Peace occurrence and will make its report known to the public timely.

This piece was written by Tunji oketunbi, General Manager, Public Affairs, ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION BUREAU

Wole Shadare