ANOTHER plane crash was, yesterday,
averted in Kaduna as IRS Airline plane with
89 passengers on board was assisted to
land in Kaduna after it developed
mechanical problems. The aircraft was said
to have had hydraulic problem and on
landing at the airport had to discharge its
passengers on the runway instead of taxiing
to the parking lot.
Speaking on the incident, Managing
Director of IRS, Mr. Yemi Dada said, the
F100 plane with registration 5N-HIR, left
Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos for
Kaduna with 89 passengers on board and
“on final approach to Kaduna today
(yesterday), our cockpit crew got a low
hydraulic in System One warning and
decided to take precautionary measures to
ask for ground confirmation that all gears
were down and locked. The aircraft landed
normally after the control tower had
confirmed that the gears were all down
normally. The crew proceeded to land but
followed procedure to disembark on the
runway and not taxi in accordance with the
procedure.
“All passengers disembarked normally and
the aircraft was towed to ramp. The
maintenance crew are inspecting to confirm
the issue that caused the warning to the
crew. Updates will follow shortly.”
This incident came few days after
Associated Airlines plane conveying the
body of the former governor of Ondo State,
Chief Segun Agagu and 20 others crashed
31 seconds after take-off from the Murtala
Muhammed Airport, MMA, Lagos runway
killing 15 of the 20 people.
Associated Airline plane was faulty
The Accident Investigation & Prevention
Bureau, AIPB, in its preliminary report of
the accident released in Abuja, weekend,
said investigations revealed that the aircraft
was already faulty before the cockpit crew
decided to embark on the journey.
According to the report, the pilot, Capt.
Abdulraham Yakubu, insisted that the crew
must continue with the journey even when
the co-pilot suggested that the flight
should be aborted. The aircraft crashed
exactly 31 seconds after take off from the
runway.
Meanwhile, former Secretary to the Federal
Government, Chief Olu Falae, whose son,
Deji, was one of the 15 persons who died
in the Associated Airlines plane crash said,
weekend, that the pilot was on a suicide
mission and that the crash was avoidable.
Falae speaks
Falae who spoke in Akure while receiving
some leaders of the South South Peoples
Assembly who paid a condolence visit to
him, argued that the plane crash was
strange to a sane mind going by the several
unheeded warnings by the crew members
about the condition of the plane.
He wondered why the crew members
ignored several warnings as regards the
condition of the plane but embarked on a
suicide mission.
Falae said, “It was a suicide mission. If they
had heeded the warnings all these people
would not have died. The crash was
avoidable. The genesis of the whole
accident was the lack of necessary
infrastructure in the country because the
remains of Dr Agagu needed not to be
flown at all if the road is good. In Nigeria,
you cannot travel by road and the air is not
safe again, the situation is a serious one.
Even if the aircraft is alright, what do you
say of the mind of the pilot? This crash was
totally avoidable.”
Earlier, the South-South Peoples Assembly
had said the preliminary report showed
that the crash was avoidable and advocated
periodic stress and psychiatric tests for
pilots flying in Nigeria. Leading the
delegation of the Assembly, Brigadier S.E
Oviawe, said the preliminary report actually
showed that the pilot embarked on suicide
mission.
Oviawe presented the condolence letter
signed by the Acting Chairman of the
Assembly, Air Commodore Idongesit
Nkanga and the Secretary, Chief Ayakeme
Whisky.
He noted “if the pilot had been in the right
frame of mind, he ought to have listened to
the advice of the co-pilot even after he had
been warned by the device in the aircraft.
For the pilot to have rejected the warning
of the co-pilot and the aircraft equipment
itself showed that something was wrong.”
They asked the Afenifere leader to “take
solace in God and be comforted by those
good things that people have been saying
about his late son, who had lived for the
principle of service for which the family was
noted. We feel your pains and grieve with
you for this irreparable loss. Going by
myriads of problems confronting the
country, there is need for all to sit down
and look at the affairs of this country in
order to find lasting solution to those
problems.
AIB preliminary report is an open report
Aviation experts, yesterday, in their
assessment of last Friday’s preliminary
report released by the AIPB, on the crashed
Embraer 120 aircraft belonging to
Associated Aviation Services Limited said
the report was open as some salient issues
like the certificate of Air worthiness of the
plane was not addressed.
Speaking on phone with aviation
correspondents from London, UK, the
immediate past Rector of the
NigerianCollege of Aviation Technology,
NCAT, Zaria, Capt. Adebayo Araba, said the
report did not indict any agency in the
sector. He, however, noted that AIPB did
not tell the public some salient points
concerning the status of the aircraft.
According to Araba, AIPB in its preliminary
report was silent on the last time the plane
flew before it crashed on October 3, 2013.
He also queried the certificate of
airworthiness of the aircraft, stressing that
the public would like to know the exact
period this was last issued by the Nigerian
Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.
Araba said, “There are some salient points
AIPB has not told the public. Although, the
report was open and did not indict
anybody, but their report did not tell us the
status of the aircraft; when was the last
time it flew before the crash? When was the
last time the certificate of airworthiness
was issued and the one that expired, when
did it expire?
“Also, when was the last time the
maintenance of the aircraft was done by the
airline operator and where was it done?
Were the crew current on the plane? When
was the last recurrent training the crew had
on the plane? AIPB as an investigator in the
sector should put their searchlight in these
areas and tell us more about these. These
are salient points that will tell the public
about the true picture of the plane.”
Also, a serving flight engineer who craved
anonymity said the report did not tell the
public if the flight pilot had a current
licence considering the kind of decision he
took, even when the first officer was calling
for caution. He said, “I doubt if the late
pilot had a valid flight licence. When last
did he go for training and retraining? Did
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority revalidate
his licence, and if yes, who did and when? I
think the report, though preliminary is still
open. There are still issues to be addressed
and questions answered. There is the need
to make preliminary report detail so that
the picture will be clearer from the begin.”
AIB commences investigation
Meantime, the Nigeria Civil Aviation
Authority, NCAA, said, yesterday, that
Accident Investigation and Prevention
Bureau has commenced investigation into
the IRS Airline plane that had mechanical
fault and had to be guided to land and
discharge its passengers on the runway.
In a statement, yesterday, night, Capt. Fola
Akinkuotu , Director-General, NCAA said “An
aircraft F-100 with Reg no 5N-HIR ,
operated by IRS Airline landed safely,
following a hydraulic leakage on the runway
of Kaduna airport today, October 13, 2013.
NCAA directed the airline to tow the aircraft
to the apron and Accident Investigation &
Prevention Bureau, AIPB has commenced
investigation into the incident. ”
averted in Kaduna as IRS Airline plane with
89 passengers on board was assisted to
land in Kaduna after it developed
mechanical problems. The aircraft was said
to have had hydraulic problem and on
landing at the airport had to discharge its
passengers on the runway instead of taxiing
to the parking lot.
Speaking on the incident, Managing
Director of IRS, Mr. Yemi Dada said, the
F100 plane with registration 5N-HIR, left
Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos for
Kaduna with 89 passengers on board and
“on final approach to Kaduna today
(yesterday), our cockpit crew got a low
hydraulic in System One warning and
decided to take precautionary measures to
ask for ground confirmation that all gears
were down and locked. The aircraft landed
normally after the control tower had
confirmed that the gears were all down
normally. The crew proceeded to land but
followed procedure to disembark on the
runway and not taxi in accordance with the
procedure.
“All passengers disembarked normally and
the aircraft was towed to ramp. The
maintenance crew are inspecting to confirm
the issue that caused the warning to the
crew. Updates will follow shortly.”
This incident came few days after
Associated Airlines plane conveying the
body of the former governor of Ondo State,
Chief Segun Agagu and 20 others crashed
31 seconds after take-off from the Murtala
Muhammed Airport, MMA, Lagos runway
killing 15 of the 20 people.
Associated Airline plane was faulty
The Accident Investigation & Prevention
Bureau, AIPB, in its preliminary report of
the accident released in Abuja, weekend,
said investigations revealed that the aircraft
was already faulty before the cockpit crew
decided to embark on the journey.
According to the report, the pilot, Capt.
Abdulraham Yakubu, insisted that the crew
must continue with the journey even when
the co-pilot suggested that the flight
should be aborted. The aircraft crashed
exactly 31 seconds after take off from the
runway.
Meanwhile, former Secretary to the Federal
Government, Chief Olu Falae, whose son,
Deji, was one of the 15 persons who died
in the Associated Airlines plane crash said,
weekend, that the pilot was on a suicide
mission and that the crash was avoidable.
Falae speaks
Falae who spoke in Akure while receiving
some leaders of the South South Peoples
Assembly who paid a condolence visit to
him, argued that the plane crash was
strange to a sane mind going by the several
unheeded warnings by the crew members
about the condition of the plane.
He wondered why the crew members
ignored several warnings as regards the
condition of the plane but embarked on a
suicide mission.
Falae said, “It was a suicide mission. If they
had heeded the warnings all these people
would not have died. The crash was
avoidable. The genesis of the whole
accident was the lack of necessary
infrastructure in the country because the
remains of Dr Agagu needed not to be
flown at all if the road is good. In Nigeria,
you cannot travel by road and the air is not
safe again, the situation is a serious one.
Even if the aircraft is alright, what do you
say of the mind of the pilot? This crash was
totally avoidable.”
Earlier, the South-South Peoples Assembly
had said the preliminary report showed
that the crash was avoidable and advocated
periodic stress and psychiatric tests for
pilots flying in Nigeria. Leading the
delegation of the Assembly, Brigadier S.E
Oviawe, said the preliminary report actually
showed that the pilot embarked on suicide
mission.
Oviawe presented the condolence letter
signed by the Acting Chairman of the
Assembly, Air Commodore Idongesit
Nkanga and the Secretary, Chief Ayakeme
Whisky.
He noted “if the pilot had been in the right
frame of mind, he ought to have listened to
the advice of the co-pilot even after he had
been warned by the device in the aircraft.
For the pilot to have rejected the warning
of the co-pilot and the aircraft equipment
itself showed that something was wrong.”
They asked the Afenifere leader to “take
solace in God and be comforted by those
good things that people have been saying
about his late son, who had lived for the
principle of service for which the family was
noted. We feel your pains and grieve with
you for this irreparable loss. Going by
myriads of problems confronting the
country, there is need for all to sit down
and look at the affairs of this country in
order to find lasting solution to those
problems.
AIB preliminary report is an open report
Aviation experts, yesterday, in their
assessment of last Friday’s preliminary
report released by the AIPB, on the crashed
Embraer 120 aircraft belonging to
Associated Aviation Services Limited said
the report was open as some salient issues
like the certificate of Air worthiness of the
plane was not addressed.
Speaking on phone with aviation
correspondents from London, UK, the
immediate past Rector of the
NigerianCollege of Aviation Technology,
NCAT, Zaria, Capt. Adebayo Araba, said the
report did not indict any agency in the
sector. He, however, noted that AIPB did
not tell the public some salient points
concerning the status of the aircraft.
According to Araba, AIPB in its preliminary
report was silent on the last time the plane
flew before it crashed on October 3, 2013.
He also queried the certificate of
airworthiness of the aircraft, stressing that
the public would like to know the exact
period this was last issued by the Nigerian
Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.
Araba said, “There are some salient points
AIPB has not told the public. Although, the
report was open and did not indict
anybody, but their report did not tell us the
status of the aircraft; when was the last
time it flew before the crash? When was the
last time the certificate of airworthiness
was issued and the one that expired, when
did it expire?
“Also, when was the last time the
maintenance of the aircraft was done by the
airline operator and where was it done?
Were the crew current on the plane? When
was the last recurrent training the crew had
on the plane? AIPB as an investigator in the
sector should put their searchlight in these
areas and tell us more about these. These
are salient points that will tell the public
about the true picture of the plane.”
Also, a serving flight engineer who craved
anonymity said the report did not tell the
public if the flight pilot had a current
licence considering the kind of decision he
took, even when the first officer was calling
for caution. He said, “I doubt if the late
pilot had a valid flight licence. When last
did he go for training and retraining? Did
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority revalidate
his licence, and if yes, who did and when? I
think the report, though preliminary is still
open. There are still issues to be addressed
and questions answered. There is the need
to make preliminary report detail so that
the picture will be clearer from the begin.”
AIB commences investigation
Meantime, the Nigeria Civil Aviation
Authority, NCAA, said, yesterday, that
Accident Investigation and Prevention
Bureau has commenced investigation into
the IRS Airline plane that had mechanical
fault and had to be guided to land and
discharge its passengers on the runway.
In a statement, yesterday, night, Capt. Fola
Akinkuotu , Director-General, NCAA said “An
aircraft F-100 with Reg no 5N-HIR ,
operated by IRS Airline landed safely,
following a hydraulic leakage on the runway
of Kaduna airport today, October 13, 2013.
NCAA directed the airline to tow the aircraft
to the apron and Accident Investigation &
Prevention Bureau, AIPB has commenced
investigation into the incident. ”
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