Human machine interface, otherwise known as human factor, is a contributor to many air accidents. Global aviation recorded over 114 crashes in 2019, with six of such crashes claiming 239 lives. With the African Indian Ocean Region (AFI), including Nigeria, recording the highest global accident rate of 2.8 accident per million departures, experts say improved training for aeronautical and air crew personnel and other measures will reduce human errors in air fatalities, writes KELVIN OSA-OKUNBOR.

Air accidents are becoming a sore point in global aviation, prompting relevant regulatory and enforcement agencies to tighten the noose on airlines, airport authorities, air navigation service providers, aviation fuel suppliers and others who interface with airplanes.

From pilots and other crew members to flight dispatchers, aircraft engineers and others preparing the airplane for take off and landing, susceptibility to human error in the travel value chain is becoming a problem.

Last week, Accident Investigation Bureau-Nigeria (AIB-N) organised a conference in Lagos to examine ways of preventing human factors in air disasters.

AIB Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, Akin Olateru, said there was the need for players and stakeholders in the air transport value chain to understand why air accidents are dominated by human failures.

Olateru said though other factors besides human failure could lead to  air accidents, it was important to look at meteorology, poor adherence to regulatory procedures and how technological advancement was exposing the weakness of human capacity.

On his part, Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Nuhu Musa said air accidents were not only giving Nigeria concern, but also that the global aviation network was getting agitated over increasing accident rates and the knotty issues  on human-machine interface.

He said a review of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Safety Report of 2020 indicated that globally, there were 114 aviation accidents, six of which were fatal in 2019.

This 2019 global accident rate of 2.9 accidents per million departures, he said,  was  the highest in the past five years and represented an increase of 12 per cent from the 2018 figure.

According to the NCAA chief, the same report showed that the African Indian Ocean (AFI) Region, to which Nigeria belongs, recorded an accident rate of 2.8 accidents per million departures, though with one of the least estimated departures. The 1,440,70 figure  represented only 3.8 per cent share of total global traffic. This was one of the highest accidents rates per region globally.

“It is common knowledge, widely propagated within the industry, that at least 70 per cent of aviation accidents are attributed  to human factors. However, a review of the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST)/ICAO Common Taxonomy Team (CICTT) for occurrence categories has shown that there is no category of these occurrences ascribed to ‘Human Factors,” Musa said.

He stated that a review of the various CICTT categories had  shown that human beings are   involved in or interface with the occurrence categories.

”This is the reason the Safety Management Systems (SMS) classifies the  statement as a misconception as humans (especially frontline personnel) interface in almost, if not all probable causes of aviation accidents at the different stages of either design, production/manufacture, organisational, operational and maintenance processes and procedures.

“Human Factors can fundamentally and best be described as the Matching the Man (Person) to the Job and Matching the Job to the Man under the prescribed conditions.

“This implies compatibility of the person to the job in preparing, adapting, enabling, equipping and conforming the person to perform the assigned task to achieve the design and expected objectives. Any mismatch will contribute to human error and is a precursor to an accident.

“One of the best ways to explain the ‘Human Factors’ contributory role in aviation accidents is a review of the SHELL Model made popular by Hawkins in 1987, which is a conceptual tool used to analyse the interaction of multiple system components, including interactions with other Liveware.

In the SHELL Model, Musa said, the component classified as Software  includes  current, effective and applicable laws, rules, regulations, orders, policies, instructions, directives, Standard Operating Procedures as the  norms and best practices that establish and ensures the implementation of the functions, responsibilities and accountabilities of an organisation.

Other ways to explain the human factors’ contributory role in aviation accidents, according to the NCAA DG, falls under hardware, comprising the human-machine systems interface. This, he said, also  includes the operating equipment -aircraft, simulator displays, matching the sensory and information processing characteristics of the operator and controls with proper movement.

Environment, Musa explained,  represents E in the model, which refers to those interactions which may or may not be out of the control of persons, namely the physical  temperature, weather, physiological and psychological environments but within which aircraft operations must continue to take place.

“Among these different components of the SHELL Model, the Liveware,’’ Musa said,  ‘’is the critical focus and represents the human component of the aviation ecosystem.‘’

He continued: ”These are the frontline personnel – flight crews, engineers and maintenance personnel  and the management and administration staff, who are  usually removed far away from the frontline, but whose decisions impact massively on the outcomes of the operations.

“Human factors in aviation occurrences are, therefore, most times seen as the negative consequence of the liveware dimension in this interactive ecosystem.”

He, therefore, called on participants at the conference to critically review the relationship between the liveware components and the other components of the aviation ecosystems and devise means towards achieving an effective and seamless safe aircraft operation and, therefore, preventing accidents due to human errors.

According to him, areas to be exploited include: “Individual and organisational compliance with the statutory and regulatory requirements and conformance to approved policies and procedures, which must be implementable; design and production of the operating equipment to achieve its intended design objectives with optimal reliability and their adaptability for compatibility and fitness to the operator; implementation of Safety Management Systems (SMS) for identification of operational hazards, associated safety risks and implementation of appropriate risk management strategies to mitigate safety risks to acceptable and tolerable levels; and where  application of appropriate enforcement actions where motivational intent to violate statutory and regulatory requirements are established to serve as deterrent, among others.

“If you get it right, birds will fly, but if you get it wrong, people may die.

“We do not want to get it wrong and we do not want to have blood on our hands.The primary responsibility of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority is public safety and this is what we must assure through our safety oversight and shared responsibilities with the certified entities and licensed personnel.

“We must jettison the tag of being a reactive people to that of being proactive and predictive, where we must not allow existing latent conditions including those associated with human errors to precipitate into incidents and accidents.”

Former NCAA DG, Dr Harold Demuren said while training and retraining of aviation personnel remain critical in reducing human factor to air accidents.

He, however, cautioned that operators should remember that the industry has one regulator.

Demuren said as much as AIB releases safety recommendations to airlines, regulators and other aeronautical agencies, such prescriptions, were merely advisory and not mandatory.

A representative of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Captain Akin George said the human  factor could be reduced if operators ramp up their safety culture by reducing risks to tolerable levels.

On his part, President Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association  (NATCA), Aboyomi Agoro harped on improved training of air traffic management personnel as well as better working environment to prevent air accidents.

President,  National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) Abednego Galadima said though statistics confirm human factor as constituting 75 per cent to air accidents; improvement in organisational communication,  pressure and fatigue management as well as organisational safety norms could mitigate air accidents.

He urged airlines and other organisations to take proactive steps in monitoring trends and its analysis in addition to eliminating distractions in the work environment to reduce human factor role in air accidents.

President,  Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative  (ASRTI), Dr Gbenga Olowo wondered why the AIB  did not draw up a case study  to enable participants dissect how the human factor could be reduced.

Chief Executive Officer, Centurion Securities, Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd) urged the authorities to examine the role contaminated aviation fuel play in air accidents.

He said questions had been raised in many air accidents on the quality of aviation fuel used by aircraft that crashed.

Such disturbing development, Ojikutu said, needs further probe by the authorities.

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

Chairman of Air Peace and Vice Chairman Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Mr Allen Onyema declared on Monday that palliatives offered by the government will not solve the problems local carriers are grappling with because the N4 billion approved for carriers is only a temporary relief.

Onyema said even if the government had given N10billion each to individual airlines, it would only amount to a tip of the iceberg because the funds will be depleted within a short while.

Speaking in a telephone interview, he told The Nation that the major clamour by indigenous carriers was for the government to remove import duty on aircraft and spare parts as well as the abolition of Value Added Tax (VAT) on domestic tickets to reduce the huge cost and charges local operators were subjected to.

He said as much as the AON under its new leadership has engaged the Federal Government and the Ministry of Aviation on ways and means of assisting indigenous carriers, it is imperative for operators to devise an appropriate strategy to get the sector out of the woods.

Onyema said the new AON leadership has reached agreement with aviation agencies on how to recover the huge debts owed by local carriers, even as a repayment plan has been worked out to starve closure of airlines’ counters and other punitive measures.

He said rather than thinking of ways to engage the government, previous executives of the umbrella body of local carriers have engaged in scathing criticism of the government to cover up their indebtedness.

Onyema said the AON executive will not be dragged into controversies over how the N4billion approved by the government was disbursed because there is a template designed by the Minister of Aviation in doling out the package.

He clarified that no carrier was side tracked in the disbursement of the funds saying some operators were raising false alarm.

Onyema clarified that the criteria for doling out the bail funds was designed by the government following a template based on scale of operations and other factors.

He said: “I do not want to be dragged into the politics of how bail out funds were decided. The government had criteria that it used. It was not the job of Airline Operators of Nigeria. Anybody alleging that some airlines did not get whatever amount should feel free to ask such airlines.

“The new leadership of AON has been engaging the government constructively on how to fix problems of the industry to create a more enabling environment for airlines to do their business. The era of AON engaging in blind fight with the government is over. If airlines are owing aviation agencies, they should approach such agencies on a repayment plan.  That should be the new thinking.”

The sector is one of the hardest-hit sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic.With debilitating effects on airlines, ground handling firms, aeronautical agencies and others connected to the air travel value chain, 2020 is a year of turbulence for aviation. KELVIN OSA-OKUNBOR reports.

For the aviation sector, 2020 has been a year of many negatives than positives; deaths, job losses, shrinking revenues, redundancies in operations, flights bans, restrictions in flight operations and other negative developments that has turned air travel into a fear-stricken window for virus infection.

Developments in the aviation sector took a dangerous twist since March 2020 when the index case of coronavirus – an Italian, flew into the country aboard a European carrier forcing aviation and health authorities to roll out preventive measures to protect other passengers from getting infected by the deadly virus.

Besides the scare of the virus, which has since altered the stakes in air travel globally, Nigeria, alongside other countries, rolled nationwide containment and curtailment strategies to contain the spread of the disease.

Specifically, in March 2020 as the scare over the COVID -19 pandemic began to escalate, the Federal Government effected flight ban on some countries where the pandemic had harvested many deaths.

Besides the flight ban for some countries, the Federal Government went ahead to close all airports to scheduled local and international flights, save for evacuation , medical and special flights for medical supplies and persons with medical conditions.

In the succeeding weeks, the entire country was locked down forcing many carriers to send their workers on furlough and redundancies pending when there will be ease of the lockdown for economic activities.  Arik Air had to fire over 300 workers.

Justifying the sack of its workers, Managing Director, Arik Air, Captain Roy Ilegbodu said the jobs erasure was due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on its operations.

The struggling airline that is in receivership stated that over 50 per cent of Arik Air’s workforce of over 1,600 staff have been on furlough in the past six months on a base allowance.

But, Arik Air was not the only carrier that took such painful decision in the year under review, largest domestic carrier by fleet size – Air Peace also sacked some pilots and other workers due to the effect of the pandemic on its operations.

Its Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Allen Onyema said the devastating effects of pandemic on its operations was responsible for the sack of some pilots and supporting staff.

“The airline cannot afford to toe the path of being unable to continue to fulfill its financial obligations to its staff, external vendors, aviation agencies, maintenance organisations, insurance companies, banks and other creditors,” Onyema said.

The year is not all about job losses, but an opportunity for aviation authorities – Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) – to roll out new safety and airworthiness protocols for air travel in line with prescriptions designed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and global aviation regulator – International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Famous among these protocols was the wearing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for frontline airport workers, air crew and other critical aviation personnel.

In the year under review, a huge row broke over social and physical distancing on board aircraft, which pitted airline owners and operators against personnel of the NCAA and the Ministry of Aviation.

Industry operators, including Chairman of Air Peace, Managing Director of Aero Contractors of Nigeria, Captain Ado Sanusi and other operators, said it was not profitable for local carriers to implement social distancing on board an aircraft on account of loss of revenue that would accrue from such unoccupied seats.

In the year under review, Nigeria also muted the idea of review of its air agreements with various countries as a result of the unacceptable treatment of carriers, especially  United Kingdom (UK). The inadequacies and policy inconsistencies of the government also came to fore during the year with the contracting of foreign carriers in carrying out evacuation flights.

One of the major developments that shaped activities in the sector  was the controversy over the proposed N5 billion bailout funds for airlines and aviation agencies.

Regarded as paltry, experts said the proposed fund was not only insufficient, but belated if the Federal Government wanted to assist beleaguered indigenous carriers.

“This is all a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reasonable countries intervened in their aviation industries in the second or third month. This is the eighth month and Nigeria is just responding. I think the government should just leave us to die, and then we will know that Nigeria has no aviation industry. The N4billion palliative for the aviation sector is very insensitive. I condemn it totally,” President, Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI), Dr Gbenga Olowo said.

One of the major developments was new safety programme at the airports, including decontamination of airports and disinfection of aircraft to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had done incalculable damage to air travel.

Also, aviation agencies, including FAAN, NCAA and Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), experienced significant dip in their revenue, occasioned by reduction in flight activities. These agencies draw their revenues from increasing flights at the airports.

Connecting flights within Africa has remained a huge challenge for many years, forcing passengers to spend many hours before reaching their destinations. But, the narrative changed at the weekend when one of Nigeria’s carriers Air Peace activated the bilateral air services agreement to begin direct flights into Johannesburg, KELVIN OSA-OKUNBOR reports.

The drive to achieve seamless air connectivity within Africa received a boost at the weekend when Nigeria reactivated its bilateral air services agreement (BASA) with the Republic of South Africa for direct flights between the two countries.

Though some Nigerian carriers namely, defunct Nigeria Airways Limited, Air Nigeria, and Arik Air had operated the route, flight operations were halted for sundry reasons.

But, relief came for passengers at the weekend when Air Peace kicked off  twice weekly direct flights on the Lagos/Johannesburg route.

Though the carrier had been designated by the Federal Government to operate direct flights on the route, the carrier embarked on keen market assessment needs before activating the operations.

Investigations show that many passengers had to travel to other countries before they could get direct flights into South Africa.

Worried over the trend,  Air Peace, in its desire to block such gap in intra-Africa air connectivity, kicked off the flights, which besides saving passengers travel time, will create a window to lubricate trade relations between Africa’s most populous country- Nigeria and the Rainbow Nation  – South Africa.

Describing the flights as a milestone in the airline’s growth and expansion trajectory, Air Peace Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mrs Oluwatoyin Olajide said the service is a solidification of economic and commercial ties the two countries.

She described the direct flight operations as the example of a mutually beneficial relationship.

Mrs Olajide said: “It is an implementation of our bilateral air services agreement. We are glad this has happened and we believe both countries will benefit hugely from this in the area of employment creation, promotion of tourism, seamless facilitation of people, which is a prerequisite for economic development and other forms of value to be created along the chain.”

She said the decision to expand flights into South Africa would deepen the vision of affordable and safe air transportation for Africans and hospitality, connecting cities across the continent, thereby fostering unity and enhancing impactful economic relations.

The COO further said: “Our determination to reduce air travel burden of Africans is unwavering. This is the reason we have employed dynamics that are peculiar to the African people. Now that we have started regular flights into Johannesburg, we are promising South Africans, Nigerians and other Africans that the new route we be well served.

“We pledge to work very harmoniously with all stakeholders, including the South African Civil Aviation Authority, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, airport administrators and governments of both countries to ensure the new route is successfully serviced.”

Also, the Consul-General of Nigeria to South Africa, Abdulmalik Ahmed, said the flights would bring economic benefits to both countries because South Africa has remained Nigeria’s biggest partner over the years.

The Nigerian envoy said flights by Air Peace into South Africa would help to improve foreign inflows and encourage investment. He said: “I will like to take this opportunity to call upon Nigerian corporate entities to follow the lead of Air Peace and take advantage of the huge investment opportunities in South Africa.”

In an interview, the COO, Airports Company, South Africa, Fundi Sithe, commended the airline for flying into its flagship airport, Oliver Tambo International Airport.

She said the number of passengers on the return trip indicated that flight operations were much- awaited.

She said: “We saw the inaugural flights arrive at Oliver Tambo Airport with huge number of passengers and also returned with greater number of passengers. This is significant and it tells us that there is a level of demand that has not been serviced.”

The Airport Manager called for more flight frequencies and direct operations into other South African airports, including Durban and Cape Town.

On his part, Chairman of the airline, Mr Allen Onyema, said flights into South Africa being the carrier’s second international route have opened possibilities for intra-continental businesses, in addition to improving bilateral ties between the two countries.

He said the feat by the carrier indicated that Nigerian carriers were not push overs and could hold their own in a friendly operating environment.

Onyema said the direct flights into South Africa would not only reduce travel time, but also encourage real relationship.

He said: “We have chosen to fly twice weekly to Johannesburg as a carefully thought out strategy with the timing that is good for passengers. With time we will graduate the flight into daily operations.

“We feel great about this service which allows Nigerians fly direct to Johannesburg ,South Africa and back to Nigeria instead of going round Africa before getting to South Africa. Now in less than six hours you can achieve that feat.

“This was our promise to Nigerians six years ago when the airline was launched, that we are not only going to connect cities within Nigeria, but will also connect the country with other nations of the world. Gradually we are getting there.

“Everything we said we will do in 2014, we have been able to achieve them and we believe we can do more with articulate planning. So, the era of saying Nigerian carriers are pushovers is gone forever. All we need from the government is an enabling operating environment to enable us perform and I bet you we would perform more than expectations.

“We do not want to kid ourselves that we are the only airline on the route now, some other people will want to come, so for us, we will strive to sustain the tempo of whatever we are doing    “We have to pragmatic we have to be strategic in our planning. We have been following our business plan meticulously since 2014.”

Federal Government’s clearance for more foreign carriers to restart flights into the country has necessitated the need to scale up passenger facilitation at control borders . To drive this initiative, aeronautical and allied agencies at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport ( MMIA), Lagos are ramping up security , health and other measures to ensure seamless facilitation ahead of  spike in  passenger traffic towards end of the year reports , KELVIN OSA – OKUNBOR.

Aviation agencies  and other border control authorities are not leaving anything to chance to achieve seamless passenger facilitation  at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos in the coming days as more foreign carriers restart flight operations into the airport.

Specifically, they have been having a series of meetings to review the operational and security architecture as more carriers return to the aerodrome following the ease of lockdown and removal of flight restriction occasioned by the COVID – 19 pandemic.

Since September 5, 2020 when international flights resumed at the Lagos and Abuja Airports, carriers that have operated flights include : Middle East Airlines, British Airways, Delta Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Egypt Air, African World Airlines, ASKY Airlines and  Kenya Airways.

But,  the Federal Government last week lifted the flight ban on Lufthansa, KLM and Air France to resume their operations in and out of the country.

Following the development, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has increased its migrants check – in counters and other equipment at the Lagos Airport to pave the way for improved passenger facilitation.

To ascertain the readiness of such facilities , the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Dr Shuaib   Belgore the weekend, toured facilities of Nigeria Immigration Service Zone A, comprising the Lagos Airport Command.

Belgore who toured Nigeria Immigration Services facilities at various sections of the Lagos Airport in company of the Zonal Coordinator, Doris Braimah , who is an Assistant Comptroller General of Immigration along side the Airport Comptroller, Abdullahi Mohammed Usman said Nigeria was complying with other countries in passenger facilitation equipment at airports.

Belgore said the visit to Lagos Airport and the Nigeria Immigration Service Zone A formation was at the invitation of the Comptroller General of Immigration,  Mohammed Babandede to acquaint him of the infrastructure and personnel deployed at border control points including the airport for effective security and facilitation of passengers.

He said check – in facilities at the passenger and cargo terminal at Lagos Airport could only be compared with equipment at other countries across the globe.

Belgore lauded the efforts of Babandede in driving airports clearance and facilitation procedures with state of the art equipment to improve efficiencies.

Describing points of entry including airports as strategic in the country’s border control measures, he urged Immigration officers and men to protect themselves and adhere the established health , airworthiness and safety protocols as the second wave of the COVID -19 pandemic.

He said :”The world is moving the way  of enhanced technology at border posts and Nigeria has deployed adequate equipment at airports. But, as personnel who interface with international passengers at the points of entry, Immigration officers must protect themselves and adhere to safety and others protocols.

“I must admit that the arrival and departure processes at the airports have scaled up for better as well as the measures out up for safety . I admit that it is a very well coordinated process, with well laid out work infrastructure and personnel diligent at their assigned posts . It is quite impressive . With the calibre of personnel manning point of entry at the airports , it speaks volumes about Nigeria’s border integrity. Adequate safety procedures have been put in place considering the COVID -19 situation , the attention to details among personnel is impressive. The government will do whatever is necessary to improve the system.”

On technology, ,he  said:“The Ministry of Interior will continue to support the move to scale up operational infrastructure at airports and other places so that Nigeria complies with international standards as prescribed by regulatory organisations. Nigeria will continue to keep up in the areas of airport facilitation procedures and equipment raise the bar.”

Also speaking , the Zone A Coordinator, Doris Braimah said the Nigeria Immigration Service will continue to push for training and capacity building for its personnel in the discharge of border control and other responsibilities by collaborating with other security agencies.

On his part, Comptroller of Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command ( MMIA) , Abdullahi Mohammed Usman said   personnel on ground were already collaborating with relevant stakeholders to ensure seamless passenger facilitation at the terminal.

He said the NIS has increased the number of counters and other infrastructure needed to improve passenger facilitation at the airport.