The Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N), says the lack of effective management supervision of the airlines flight operations and inadequate safety oversight is the major cause of air accidents.
(AIB-N), has released four accident reports including that of Quorum helicopter crash, the only fatal accident in the country in the last five years.
The agency, besides the four reports also released a Safety Bulletin at a press conference held in Abuja Nigeria’s capital.
The fatal accident, which involved Quorum Aviation Limited Bell 206B3 Helicopter with registration 5N-BQW, occurred at Opebi, Ikeja, Lagos State south west Nigeria on 28th August 2020.
The AIB-N Commissioner, Engr. Akin Olateru, disclosed that the causal factor of the accident was due to fuel exhaustion at low altitude and low speed leading to loss of control in flight.
He added that the pilots decision to continue the flight towards the intended destination with insufficient fuel instead of landing as soon as practicable in line with section 12.12 of Quorum Aviation Limited Operations Manual Part A, was part of the contributing factor that led to the fatal accident.
“Three Safety Recommendations were, therefore, addressed to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the airline in the report.
“In the other three reports and one Safety Bulletin released, the Bureau addressed a total of nine Safety Recommendations to the NCAA, the affected airlines, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), among others.
“The released reports included the report on an accident involving Skypower Express Airways Nigeria Limited Air Tractor AT-401B Aircraft with registration 5N-BTV, which occurred at Rukubi Village 90 NM South-East of Abuja on the 4th October 2018,“ Engr Olateru said.
The Bureau also released the report on the serious incident involving Nigeria Police Airwing Bell 429 Helicopter with registration 5N-MDA which occurred at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja on the 3rd August,2019.
It also released the report on the serious incident involving Skypower Express Airways Nigeria Limited, Cessna 172 Aircraft with registration 5N-APE at Bini Village, Niger State on 19th November,2019.
Engr. Olateru also stated that the newly released reports make a total of 53 reports released by his administration at AIB, saying that 72 reports have been released since the establishment of the Bureau in 2007.
The Commissioner stressed that the Bureau has, so far, released a total of 232 Safety Recommendations since 2007, 151 of which were released by his administration from 2017 till date.
