May 25, (THEWILL) – Commissioner/CEO of Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria (AIB-N), Engr Akin Olateru, has disclosed that, failure to recognise the abnormal engine conditions (surge) during cruise phase and hence, not making appropriate decision, is one of the contributing factors to the serious incident involving a Boeing 737-500 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-AIS, operated by Azman Air service Limited, which occurred at Port Harcourt, Nigeria on 3rd January, 2019.
The other contributing factor, according to AIB-N is non implementation of the Flight Data Monitoring programme in accordance with 2.2.5.1 of Azman Air Safety Management System Manual.
Others are: non-rectification of the number two engine vibration anomalies recorded over a period of 8 months and inadequate regulatory oversight of the Azman Air Safety Management System.
Engr Olateru made the disclosure in his speech at the release of three final reports on Wednesday, at AIB-N headquarters in Abuja.
Included in the three serious incident final reports are also 20 Safety Recommendations, which were addressed to the regulatory body, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the affected airlines, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), an aircraft manufacturer, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, among others.
The reports, however, include; the Final Report on the serious incident involving a Boeing 747-400 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-DBK, operated by Max Air Limited, which occurred at the Minna Airport, Nigeria on 7th September, 2019; the Final Report on the serious incident involving Cessna Citation 560 XLS aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-HAR, operated by the Nigerian Police Airwing, which occurred at Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Airport, Bauchi, Nigeria on 3rd October, 2018, and the Final Report on the serious incident involving a Boeing 737-500 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-AIS, operated by Azman Air service Limited, which occurred at Port Harcourt, Nigeria on 3rd January, 2019.
On Max Air Boeing 747-400 aircraft, Engr Olateru stated that AIB-N was notified of the incident by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on 7th September, 2019 and that investigators were dispatched to the incident site the same day and commenced post occurrence assessments.
He identified the causal factors as excessive rudder and aileron inputs at short final phase of the approach, while the Contributory factors to the incident are the decision to continue the ILS approach runway 05 with erratic localiser signals. the event of an unstabilised approach with a no go-around decision.
On the serious incident involving Cessna Citation 560 XLS aircraft, the Commissioner informed that the Bureau was notified of the incident by the Nigeria Police on the 22nd October, 2018, while investigators were dispatched to the site on 6th November, 2018.
The investigation identified the causal factor as an uncoordinated flight as a result of inadequate Crew Resource Management (CRM) that led to the partial release of the parking brake, which resulted in rejected take-off.
The contributory factors, according to Olateru are: inability of the aircraft to get airborne after attaining the rotation speed (Vr)during take-off roll even with aft elevator pressure and non-adherence to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as contained in the Cessna Citation 560 XLS+ Airplane Flight Manual.
On the Azman Air Boeing 737-500, the report equally stated that AIB-N was notified of the occurrence by Azman Air Services Limited (AASL) on 3rd January, 2019 and a team of investigators were dispatched to the site the next day and commenced investigation.
Causal factor according to the report has to do with the failure of number 4 and 5 bearings of engine number 2, leading to loss of power during approach
The newly released reports make a total of 75 aircraft accident reports released by the Bureau since its establishment in 2007 and a total of 56 reports released by the current administration from 2017 till date.
In 2022 alone, seven reports have been released.
The Bureau has also released a total of 252 Safety Recommendations since inception with 171 of the recommendations released by this administration.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
