A former director of Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) recently granted an interview to the Daily Trust newspaper in which he made some comments that have stirred the hornet's nest within the Aviation industry. He commented on both published and unpublished accident reports even as he did not hide his bitterness for his removal from office by the government.
It has become the trend that as soon as a new minister is appointed individuals looking for jobs suddenly appear in the media promoting themselves and trying to run down some people. This attention-seeking gimmick is not unusual but to throw professionalism to the dogs and resort to sabotaging government effort is worrisome. It is trite that no professional aviator of note comments on an accident until the report is released to the public domain.
Let us look at some of the issues raised in the interview with the former AIB director. Ozoka rightly said that the sole objective of an accident investigation is not to apportion blames but to find out what caused the system to be breached with a view to guarding against future re-occurrence. He remarked that an accident investigator must be patient and unbiased adding that the investigator should draw conclusions at the end of the investigation. The former director, however, in the course of the interview, broke all the rules and did not demonstrate the qualities he enunciated.
He commented so much on Sosoliso crash of 2006 in which he personalised the investigation that was also assisted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Comments are freely allowed on published reports. But Ozoka went overboard when he started speaking on yet-to-be published reports on ADC and Bellview plane crashes. He went as far as stating the purported causes of the accidents. To knowledgeable aviators and professional accident investigators, this is very unprofessional. It undermines the system and demonstrates disregard for institutions.
Why this appears to be deliberate is informed by the fact that Ozoka himself acknowledged that it was improper to comment on an unpublished report. He said, "Almost the same thing happened in the ADC. There was wind shear. I won't talk too much on that because the investigation report is yet to be released. But wind shear was the major cause of that accident also."
Ozoka has already talked too much and has by that abused the privilege he had as an investigator and a government official. He went on to say that the pilot was warned by control tower not to take off. While it is only Accident Investigation Bureau that can confirm this but people close to Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) know this is not true. By trying to blame the pilot, Ozoka goofed. Contrary to the quality of patience and impartiality he postulated, the former director rushed to preempt the organisation charged with responsibility of investigating air accidents, i.e. the Accident Investigation Bureau.
Going back and forth, he said he would open up when the report was officially released but went on to say that some corporate standards were abused. Why is this man impatient? What is he out to achieve by his outburst?
Ozoka is well aware that AIB has concluded investigations into these accidents and the public has been mounting pressure on the government to allow the release of the reports. That the reports have not been released cannot be blamed on the AIB.
Commenting on Bellview, he also went on to insinuate what caused the crash. He alleged the plane had some deficiencies but did not relate how it caused the crash. He took a swipe at the incumbent head of AIB for accepting the job from which he (Ozoka) was removed. According to him, the man was once Director of Airworthiness and so would not be in position to investigate accidents. Ozoka had forgotten that he was also once a rector of Nigerian College of Aviation whose aircraft were also involved in crashes and yet he was still appointed head of accident investigation. Could he not have been associated with failures in that organization?
He also contradicted his earlier submission that accident investigation was not to apportion blame but to prevent future accidents. Individuals are not targeted in investigations; it is the system that is targeted. His successor no doubt is more eminently qualified for that position being an aeronautical engineer as required by the law. Efforts to run down a successor at a curious time such as this speak volumes.
His grouse that he was not allowed to complete an investigation and so must draw a pound of flesh is baseless as it is unlikely that all accident reports will be completed during the tenure of one chief executive. What happened to the mountain of uncompleted investigations he inherited from his predecessors and were not completed before he was removed?
To be sabotaging the efforts of the government on account of simply being removed from a government position is preposterous.
Capt. Mohammed, an aviation expert, lives in Lagos.
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