Category: Aviation

Two Sirkorsky C 76 ++crashes in six months have put a question mark on the safety of the aircraft type used by Bristow Helicopters, a leading player in the rotary wings sub-sector of aviation, KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR reports. 

The crash of the helicopters followed almost the same pattern. The Sirkorsky C 76 ++ crashed into the Oworonshoki end of the Lagos lagoon last August 12. The second was said to have landed on water last Wednesday. These crashes have called to question the safety of this aircraft operated by Bristow Helicopters.

Though probes are not meant to be punitive, experts believe it is time the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), implemented the recommendations of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) on previous crashes.

Worried by the trend of Bristow’s choppers crashes, NCAA last week suspended the operation of the aircraft, pending an audit of the firm.

At a briefing in Lagos, NCAA Director-General Captain Mukhtar Usman said the decision was taken in the industry’s interest.

He said the step was not punitive, but would allow its inspectors find out what may have gone wrong with the aircraft.

Usman said: “I must mention that this suspension of the operations for the impending wholesale audit is not a vote of no confidence on the airline. It is to ascertain the adequacy and the propriety of the operating aircraft.

“This action is not new to the industry but one of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) all over the world.

“The decisions are without prejudice to the investigations being conducted by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB).

“As a matter of fact, it will serve to assist in the entire process. The Authority will fully support AIB in the investigation.

“Therefore, the regulatory authority  views with utmost seriousness the successive mishaps of Bristow Helicopters’operating aircraft Sikorsky C-76 ++ on the coastal waters of Lagos.

“The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has, therefore, decided to suspend the operation of the Bristow Helicopters Limited’s Sikorsky C 76 ++ type till further notice.

“This suspension will enable the authority carry out a full scale audit on its operations with particular emphasis on its Sikorsky C -76 ++ type.

“If you may recall in August, 2015, a Bristow Helicopter operated Sikorsky C-76  series crashed around Oworonshoki axis in Lagos.

“Therefore, as a responsible regulatory authority, it is important to stem the rapidity of occurrence and ensure the airline carry out safe operations.

“I must also mention that this suspension of operations for the impending wholesale audit is not a vote of no confidence on the airline. It is to ascertain the adequacy and propriety of the operating aircraft type.”

The incidents and accidents, according to a former Airport Commandant and member of the Aviation Round Table (ART), Group Captain John Ojikutu, is unacceptable  to one operator.

He wondered how the NCAA would explain these to the public when safety recommendations were made for each accident report.

He said: ‘’ Were there no considerations to conduct surveys instead of audits on the operator? These incessant accidents need special surveys on the operations, maintenance and crew licensing of the operator and not audit. To do these, Bristow operations may have to be shut down otherwise, NCAA and the operator will have a lot of explanations to make when other stakeholders and the public get to know about this.”

A pilot last year listed regulatory inefficiency and negligence of aviation agencies as part of the reasons air crashes are on the increase in Nigeria. He said both factors  accounted for 70 per cent of the causes of air mishaps.

He said other factors that contribute to air mishaps included   mechanical errors of airplanes.

He said air crashes could be minimised if the relevant agencies of the government learnt lessons from published reports of previous accidents.

“We need to start looking at landing aids and landing areas at airports because over 70 per cent of air crashes in Nigeria are linked to negligence on the part of aviation parastatals and oversight deficiencies of regulatory agencies.

“We need to look at the issues and not sweep them under the carpet in Nigeria,” he said.

Investigations reveal that since 2007, Bristow has been involved in at least 10 incidents and accidents.

In 2007, a Bristow Bell 412EP with registration 5N-BIQ-35385 took off from the Eket-Qua Ibom Terminal Airfield and crashed into water.

It was gathered that the flight was neither scheduled or requested.

According to the accident report: ‘’The Bristow line Training Captain, Cleighton Brown boarded the aircraft 5N–BIQ Bell 412EP at 07:30hrs without the co-pilot. He started the aircraft engines rapidly, made a radio call at 07:32hrs for a “local flight”, and lifted rapidly at 07:35hrs.

‘’He made two fast fly passes over the airfield and on the third fly pass the aircraft descended steeply over the west of the airfield at a high speed impacting the ground at 07:39hrs.

‘’The pilot died of injuries shortly after being rescued from the wreckage. The helicopter was barely two years old as at the time it crashed, having been manufactured in September 2005.’’

On  July 14, 2011, a Bristow Helicopters aircraft with registration 5N-BMM crashed at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), barely four years after the 2007 crash in Eket.

AIB, in its report on the crash, revealed that the two pilots in the cockpit were captains  paired for the flight contrary to the airline’s policy.

AIB, which made this known in its final report on the Bristow Helicopter crash in 2011, on its website last year year, said  the airline  used its Operations Manual Part A and C that were not approved by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA).

The report reads: “Bristow does not have a policy on pairing or crew roaster; however, two pilots of same age bracket 56 and 60 years were paired/rostered.’’

Besides, the accident investigation body said  the two pilots who flew the aircraft were relatively new on the aircraft.

The AIB said the Pilot Flying (PF) and Pilot Monitoring (PM) had total hours on the aircraft type of 684 and 612 hours.

A few years ago, an AS-332L Super Puma (5N-BKJ) belonging to Bristow Nigeria also ditched into the sea off the coast of Nigeria.

It was only a few hundred meters from its destination.

Investigations reveal that the NCAA recently completed an audit on Bristow.

Last week’s accident, a source said, occasioned the need to deepen another audit.

The source said the female pilot should be commended for ditching the chopper when she noticed a technical fault.

He said: “In truth, it was not a crash. The aircraft was ditched into the Atlantic. The pilot was experienced enough to do that. At no time did she lose control of the aircraft. She noticed the technical problem and made a decision to ditch and even if it is not water she would have landed the helicopter perfectly. She did what we (regulators) have always advised them to do, she could have decided to continue for another 75 nautical miles but she chose right and it was not a crash per se.”

He added: “It’s just like air return when a pilot is about to take off and they notice anything wrong the pilot can abort the flight and that is part of regulation. It doesn’t mean it’s a serious problem, but why take the chance? We have always asked pilots not to assume they are supermen, no one is a superhero and so if the laid down procedures are followed everything will be okay. She (the pilot) did an incredible job and should be commended.’’

Global aviation bodies are worried over the  percentage contribution of air accidents associated with runway operations.  Amid calls for collaboration and introduction of safety initiatives, experts at a forum in Lagos last week set timelines for Nigeria to reduce runway incursion and related threats to air safety, KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR reports. 

There is growing concern over air safety across the globe, following recurring incidents and accidents associated with runway operations.  According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation ( ICAO), about  one-third of aviation accidents are associated with  runway operations.

Sequel to the development,  ICAO  introduced safety initiatives aimed at reducing runway-related accidents. The initiatives were endorsed last year by ICAO partners, including Flight Safety Foundation at  the first meeting of the ICAO Global Runway Safety Symposium in Montreal, Canada.

The global civil aviation regulator, ICAO, has called for compilation and further development of best practices and greater sharing of information among member states.

One of the first requirements, it said, will be the development of common definitions, metrics and methods of analysis to enable more complete information sharing, as well as the improved reporting of operational hazards.

ICAO data showed that over the past five years, one-third of all aviation accidents have been linked to runway operations.

Last week, five aviation agencies namely, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency ( NAMA) , Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ( FAAN ), Accident Investigation Bureau ( AIB) and Nigerian Meteorological Agency ( NIMET) in collaborating with ICAO, Airport Council International (ACI) and International Air Transport Association (IATA), organised a forum in Lagos to address runway incursion and its attendant effects on air safety

Speaking at the forum, NAMA Managing Director, Ibrahim Adbulsalam, said the establishment of Runway Safety Teams at the four major airports of Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt and the training on the use of Runway Safety Tool Kits, as well as the development and implementation of Runway Safety Action Plan, would further enhance safety of air navigation in the country.

He said NAMA has concluded plans to install surface movement radar systems at Lagos and Abuja airports for the effective surveillance and control of aircraft, vehicle and personnel on ground at these airports. He said the system would ensure that aircraft and vehicles operating within the airside are equipped with transponders for effective detection by radar or automated data surveillance broadcast ( ADS- B ) systems.

He said runway  safety remains the most critical aspect of air safety, not only because the most critical phases of flight operations occur within the runway strip, but because of the multiplicity of sensitive activities that take place within the airside.

These activities include, take-off and landing of aircraft, surface movement of aircraft, movement of operational vehicles, security personnel, Jet A1 vehicles and construction vehicles.

He listed others to include, airfield lighting maintenance personnel, navigational aids maintenance personnel, aerodrome rescue and fire fighting vehicles, ATC vehicles on runway inspection.

Others are wildlife, vegetation and bird control, search and rescue vehicles, as well as various other stakeholders operating therein.

Abdulsalam explained that it is in view of the multiplicity of operations associated with the runway that the ICAO initiated a multi-disciplinary runway safety programme that requires collaboration among aviation stakeholders. Abdulsalam identified runway safety as consisting of three key components: runway incursion, excursion and confusion.

Runway incursion, he defined, is the unauthorised presence of an aircraft, vehicle, person, animal or object on a runway or associated runway strip that constitutes a hazard to aircraft landing, taking off or taxiing within the movement area of an aerodrome.

He said :” Runway excursion is the unintentional presence of an aircraft outside the runway as a result of overshooting, undershooting or running off the runway during take-off or landing roll.

“These occurrences can be attributed to severe weather, technical failures, human errors, loss of situational awareness, inadequate, or lack of appropriate approach and landing or visual aids. Runway confusion is the misidentification of a runway by flight crew as a result of poor visibility, loss of situational awareness, inadequate visual aids, inadequate approach and landing aids, and parallel or near parallel runways. “

He highlighted some of the steps the organisation had taken to prevent runway incidents. He said the agency in 2013 introduced surface movement and ground control services in Lagos and Abuja on May 6, 2015.

The Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Mukhtar Usman, represented by the Director of Operations and Training, Capt. Sidi Abdullahi, lamented that runway incidents have been on the increase and hoped that the workshop would go a long way in mitigating runway incidents. He noted that the large number of people working on the runway particularly exposes it to danger.

The Managing Director of FAAN,  Saleh Dunoma described runway safety as a significant challenge to airport operators.

“It presents some of the greatest problems in the aviation sector,” Dunoma warned. Represented by the agency’s Director of Operations, Capt. Henry Omoegwu, he said the authority had made runway safety its top priority by, among other measures, forming a runway safety team to advise on the prevailing condition on the runways, issues of concerns and confusion, and training airside personnel.

According to Richie Takunde from the ACI, “Safety on the runway is very important to aerodrome operators who want to avoid or mitigate accidents or incidents.

“Though Africa has the least record of flights operation compared to other continents, especially Europe, the continent is also notorious for runway incidents and accidents, according to ICAO statistics.

Also speaking, the ICAO Regional Officer Air Traffic Management , Mr Albert Aidoo Taylor said: “The problems with the runways are not critical issues that cannot be addressed and Nigeria has the capacity to do that. We will be going to the airports to see things critically to see what needs to be done.” Investigations revealed that aircraft  ground collision has become a recurring decimal in Nigerian airports, especially at some of the busy international airports in the country. The problem even took a more worrisome dimension in 2015 following the spate of ground collision involving many airlines.

The first major incident of ground collision was in 2012 when an Arik Air aircraft collided with another aircraft on ground in Jos.

On Monday July 6, 2015, at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, a Dubai-bound Emirates aircraft Boeing 777-200R also collided with a stationary Boeing 737 aircraft belonging to HaK Air at the airport’s apron, leading to a substantial damage on the parked plane. This happened when the Emirates aircraft was taxing for take-off.

Twelve days after, also at the same MMA in Lagos, another tragedy was averted when two Airbus A319 airplanes belonging to the First Nation Airways, a domestic carrier, collided at the apron of the MMA2 private terminal. Incidents like ground collision and other associated incidents on the runway, according to experts, elicit safety concerns in the nation’s aviation industry.

Though Nigeria is not the only country said to be deficient in terms of putting in place appropriate safety measures on the runways, statistics have shown that the problem is more prevalent in the African continent, despite its low rate of flights.