The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Benedict Adeyileka

  • ‘How Nigeria will gain from Category One safety rating’

    The recertification of Nigeria’s civil aviation’s safety rating by the United States Federal Aviation Administration ( US FAA), would increase investment opportunities in the country , the acting Director-General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Benedict Adeyileka has said .

    Adeyileka, who said the safety rating would also open another window for indigenous carriers to be designated to fly into multiple points in the United States of America.

    He said the category one safety rating will now restore more confidence of air safety in Nigeria, because all the identified deficiencies pointed out by the team of experts from the US FAA have been corrected .

    Adeyileka said the NCAA has begun a continuous self regulation mechanism to enhance its regulations in line with global standards.

    The  NCAA, he  said  despite the retention of the United States Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, Category One Status  would not rest on its oars.

    Rather, the authority he said will continue to train and retrain its staff in order to sustain the professionalism that is already in existence in the authority.

    Adeyileka said NCAA has indicated its readiness for the International Civil Aviation Organisation(ICAO) audit,  assuring that unlike the FAA audit where it requested for an extension in order to put all the necessary measures in place, it will not request for such for the ICAO audit.

    Adeyileka noted that with the retention of the status, which the country attained in August 2010, both local and foreign investors would now have broader confidence on Nigeria while foreign airline operators would continue to fly into the country with more confidence.

    He said that the retention of the status had further revealed that safety and comfort are already entrenched in the country’s civil aviation industry.

    The retention of the status would further lead to low insurance premium for the country’s carriers, continuous direct flights, more competition and convenience to the passengers.

    He said, “Today, we are very happy for how far we have gone. I commend the cooperation of all stakeholders including all the agencies in the sector as everybody ensured that we came out successfully in this audit.

  • NCAA urges airlines on fleet renewal

    The Acting Director-General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Benedict Adeyileka has urged domestic airline operators to embrace the opportunities offered by the Cape Town Convention to achieve fleet renewal for their airlines.

    The Cape Town Convention is an instrument approved for African countries to acquire aircraft from lessors using the aircraft as collateral in the event of default in payment.

    He said domestic carriers could also leverage on intervention funds from government to acquire aircraft to boost their operations.

    The NCAA boss said domestic carriers should consider forging mergers to run profitable operations.

    “Nigerian airlines should leverage on the nation’s signing of the Cape Town Convention to commence a fleet renewal programme with newer aircraft,” he said,  adding that the airlines should take advantage of Federal Government’s aviation intervention funds to acquire newer fleet and equipment.

    “Nigerian airlines need to work together as partners rather than compete. They should embrace code sharing and interlining. Once an airline can overcome all these challenges, focus can then shift to sustaining safety and building customer base.

    “One of the ways of sustaining safety in Nigerian aviation sector is when airlines embrace the power of synergy. When airlines operating two or three aircraft merged to form one, the level of safety that will be achieved will be more than what one airline is striving to achieve,” he said.

    Adeyileka added that most local airlines prefer lease financing, which has been a reflection of how short – term airline business has become in the country, stating that one of the major challenges for airlines in the country has been the issue of lease rates being paid in US dollars while passengers’ fares are in naira and exchange rate usually fluctuates.

    He explained that most financial institutions prefer to support business aviation at the expense of commercial aviation, as the former has lesser risk when compared to the latter.

    He said the high cost of aviation fuel is another challenge facing airlines and can go up to 40 per cent of airline operating cost depending on aircraft type.

    He noted that the major challenges facing the aviation sector were ageing aircraft, cost of aircraft leasing/financial, high cost of aircraft insurance, ageing workforce and fuel.

    “It is not the age of the aircraft that is the issue but effect of aircraft ageing on maintenance and operating cost,” Adeyileka clarified.

    He said the number of removal of component for maintenance and repair costs increases as the aircraft age increases, stressing that dispatch reliability decreases as the aircraft age increases due to discovery of defects which in turn decreases aircraft parts’ availability.

    His words: “Generally, aircraft have mandatory structural inspection programmes imposed on them by the time they are 20 years old with a specified number of flight hours and flight cycles. The amount of aircraft ground time in economic sense is an opportunity cost for the aircraft most especially when the aircraft is on dry lease.”

  • Why helicopters are not allowed to fly at night, by NCAA

    Why helicopters are not allowed to fly at night, by NCAA

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has ruled out the flying of helicopters at night – for now.

    Its Acting Director-General Mr Benedict Adeyileka, said helicopters would not be allowed to operate 24 hours until NCAA completes the survey and mapping of flight paths.

    The Nation learnt that helicopters or rotary wing operators as they are classified, can only operate between 6.00 am and 7.00 pm in line with regulations.

    But helicopters operate at night in countries, such as the United States and United Kingdom, though under regulations.

    In these countries they are used to move men and materials to oil rigs.

    Adeyileka said NCAA would expand rotary wing operations backed by adequate policy and regulatory framework.

    NCAA, he said, embarked on survey and mapping of the airspace to identify telecoms, radio and television masts and other high rise installations to guide helicopters at night.

    He said apart from reaching the masts owners the flight paths, the authority also informed them to ensure that they have red lights to give signals to helicopters in flight.

    Until, he said, challenges hindering night operations are addressed, 24-hour helicopter operations would not be approved by the authority.

    Adeyileka added: “The NCAA will not just give approval for 24 hours helicopter operations until all issues are resolved concerning the litany of telecommunication masts that litter the flight path.

    “We will only approve night operations for helicopters until we carry out a comprehensive survey and mapping of all masts around the country . The essence of this is to give approval to the route that helicopters would fly without colliding into masts either belonging to telecommunication companies or radio or television stations.

    “Even some highrise installations, we need to identify where these obstacles are located, properly identify and map them, so that the helicopter operators will know the path to fly.

    “Until all these issues are resolved, the NCAA will only allow helicopters to operate during the day.

    “Though a few night flights may be allowed when are emergencies .”

    He continued: “Our plan to ensure that whatever the NCAA approves concerning helicopter operations is covered by appropriate laws and regulation.”

    Some years ago, the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced a change in night flying regulations which will allow aircraft to operate under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) in the hours of darkness.

    All civil aircraft flying at night in the UK must comply with Instrument Flight Rules (IFR).

    But, since June 2012, this requirement has been removed allowing pilots to decide whether to fly VFR or IFR.

    Visual Flight Rules are an internationally agreed standard set of operating rules designed to help prevent collisions between aircraft and the ground by ensuring that pilots fly in weather conditions that enable them to see a potential collision and take action to avoid it.

    Instrument Flight Rules are a more restrictive set of internationally agreed operating rules, which include additional measures to help prevent collisions between aircraft particularly when flying in weather conditions where pilots may not be able to see other aircraft or obstacles.

    This include cloudy weather with its attendant poor visibility in areas with high volume of traffic

    The changes are being made to take into account new and emerging European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) regulations for pilot licensing and rules of the air.

  • NCAA grounds MedView Air

    NCAA grounds MedView Air

    A false fire alarm on an Abuja-bound MedView Airline Boeing 737 from Lagos yesterday earned it immediate grounding by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

    The acting Director General of NCAA, Benedict Adeyileka, said the action was to enable the agency’s engineers and inspectors as well as engineers of the airline carry out checks on the aircraft.

    The plane made an air return five minutes after take- off from the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, following a false fire alarm.

    There were 94 passengers and five crew members on board.

    Smoke was noticed in the cabin triggering the alarm, spokesman for the airline, Mr. Oyibotha Obuke, said.

    All the appropriate agencies including Airport fire fighters were promptly alerted and were ready for assistance on the tarmac by the time the plane landed.

    All the 94 passengers on board were promptly evacuated without disrupting other flights at the airport.

    An alternative plane was provided for them to go to Abuja.

    One of the passengers, Mr. Longe Olarenwaju confirmed that smoke was noticed on takeoff but by the time the pilot was returning for landing, the smoke had disappeared.

    He commended the pilot for the professional way he handled the situation.

    Air return is a standard professional practice the world over.

    The aircraft now parked at MMA 2 just returned from a major check three weeks ago.

    The NCAA acting DG said yesterday that the agency’s engineers had opened up the panels of the aircraft to find out the cause of the fire alarm.

    He said that findings so far suggested that the aircraft was in good order, and would be re-certified and released for operations after completion of the necessary checks.

    He said the pilot acted in good faith by aborting the flight after passengers exhibited signs of panic, on board.

    He said: “We prefer a false alarm to an incident. Air return does not constitute an emergency. The NCAA and its team of inspectors are visibly in the ramp at the airport carrying out routine inspection. Air return is a precautionary safety measure.”