We reported damaged plane to NCAA, Boeing, CFM, says Onyema
- AIB chides airline, says ignorance not an excuse
Chairman, Air Peace Airlines, Mr. Allen Onyema said all serious incidents involving his airline were duly reported to the aviation regulatory body, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority [NCAA], maintaining that the carrier has nothing to hide.
Onyema was reacting to Accident Investigation Bureau [AIB] allegations that the carrier concealed major incidents from investigation.
Commissioner, AIB, Akin Oleteru stated 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.
The airline chief explained that when the incident happened, the airline reported to the regulatory agency, Boeing and the manufacturer of the aircraft’s engine, CFM International.
His words, “When the incident occurred we report it to NCAA. 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, CPM 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,” Onyema said.
A top official in AIB who pleaded anonymity said, ‘Based on the foregoing, it is obvious that Air Peace management lacks the full understanding of the statutory mandates, functions and procedures of the Bureau. Can ignorance be an excuse?
Olateru in a statement stated that it was reported that the said incident occurred on May 15th 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 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. The aircraft has since been on ground, awaiting implementation of the hard landing inspections recommended by the aircraft manufacturer, the Boeing Company.
This, according to him includes an inspection of the right-hand engine pylons and the wing root, due to the heavy impact concerns.
Olateru disclosed that further discussions with the Maintenance Personnel of Air Peace Limited revealed that CFM International, the engine manufacturer, has also been contacted with regard to necessary inspections, to ascertain the serviceability of the starboard engine.
