Aviation think tank and pressure group, Aviation Round Table (ART) has faulted the allegations making the rounds that the reports of the tragic air crashes involving Sosoliso Airlines and Bellview were doctored and distorted and said that the reports were submitted to the Presidency.
“The truth of the matter is that the Bellview Accident investigation was not altered. The investigation was conducted by a team of foreign and Nigerian aviation experts. One of the international aviation experts that were with us during this investigation and the writing of the report is Mr. Dennis Jones who is presently in Nigeria to assist in the investigation of the Dana plane crash.”
Ore, who was former Director of Operations of the liquidation of the Nigeria Airways, said that the Bellview accident investigation report has since been completed and submitted to the Presidency in line with the Act which established the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) in 2006.
He said that the Presidency would be in a good position to explain to Nigerians “why this report and others that had since been submitted to the Presidency have not been released to the public.”
Over 200 lives were lost in Bellview and ADC crashes which happed in Lisa, Ogun state and Abuja respectively between 2005 and 2006.
The General Secretary, ART, Sam Akerele, also lamented that Nigeria had yet to acquire a single weather radar several years after it was recommended for safety of Nigeria’s airspace to detect wind movement in order to determine weather conditions for flight operations.
ART also condemned the setting up of another administrative panel to probe another aspect of the Dana Air aircraft accident and described it as an aberration and an illegality.
“The sum total of all this is that Nigeria has fallen short of the minimum international standard and hence under Article 38 of the Chicago Convention Nigeria is obliged to file a difference.”
In other words, if Nigeria wishes constitute panels for aircraft accident investigation it should legislate on that and it would become law, but now, what the existing panel is doing is a mere charade and waste of public fund because whatever report that comes from the investigation would not be recognized by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) as AIB is the recognised body to carry out investigation after any accident.
Source: http://www.thisdaylive.com
No comments:
Post a Comment