Opinion
By GT Barakat, 18 December 2012
The one word that best describes the current state of Naval Air operations in Nigeria is DISASTER.
Last Saturday's helicopter crash was just one signpost to it. There have been others, no less tragic. For instance, the Nigerian Navy aviators, pilots and engineers who died in helicopter crashes in 2007 and 2010 respectively. There were others.
The Operation of Nigerian Navy Air Squadron, which operates Agusta 109 helicopters from Ojo, has lost 3 helicopters, 7 pilots and crew and 6 passengers within a span of six years.
On April 20, 2006, a Nigerian Navy helicopter crashed near Owerrenta, killing all on-board. Reports at the time suggested that the pilots were coerced to fly at night to deliver election materials. The reason for the crash is attributed to the pilot's inexperience at night flying and the fact that the pilots were never trained in instrument flying. That meant the Nigerian Navy tasked the pilots to perform duties which were not commensurate to the training they were given. Did the Nigerian Navy learn from that incident? Did it take steps to avoid recurrence? No official report was released about this crash. A board of inquiry was set up and investigations were conducted by a team of Navy officers, who do not have the know-how, let alone the expertise, to conduct proper air crash investigations. However, shortly after the crash, the Navy made efforts at training some, not all, of the pilots at Night Flying and Instrument.
Two years later, on January 26, 2010, another Navy helicopter went down in Port Harcourt, killing all onboard. As usual, a BOI was set up and no official report has been released from Garki. Is the Navy impervious to learning?
Then last Saturday, on December 15, 2012, the sun darkened again for the Navy Air Squadron and the nation at large. An Agusta helicopter belonging to the Navy crashed again, this time killing not only military personnel but two important dignitaries, Governor Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna State, and his namesake, the former Chief of Army Staff and immediate past National Security Adviser, General Patrick Owoeye Azazi.
May be this time around we may have a proper investigation, not Board of Inquiry by a bunch of clueless Navy officers. May be the presidency, the Senate, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff, may be interested to know from our investigations that the Navy Air Squadron lacks a proper logistics line of sustenance, that there are no enough spare parts for helicopters, that spare parts take ages to reach the country even after they have been paid for, that the Navy Air Squadron lacks an efficient Technical/logistics support system, that Nigerian Navy Air Squadron has mastered the practice of removing a part from one aircraft to another, a practice commonly known as cannibalization. That sometimes even fuel, which is always budgeted for, is an impediment to air operations due to late arrival; that technicians/engineers are not properly empowered, they have not been properly exposed to the standards required of an air technician by frequent re-training and that their certificates do not meet ICAO standards.
It may equally be of interest for the CDS and Nigerians to know as our investigations have revealed that sometimes Nigerian Navy helicopters are deployed outside their home base to Warri and Port Harcourt for long periods of time. During this period the aircraft is totally exposed to weather elements of rain and too much sun. This is so because the Navy base in Warri does not have a hangar.
Our further investigations have also shown that the Air Squadron at Ojo is popularly known within the naval circle as the 'Evil Forest'. Nobody wants to be posted there. Junior officers go to the extent of offering bribes, just to cancel their postings to 'the evil forest', because of the tyrannical, despotic, nature of senior officers.
The Senior Officers/Pilots/Engineers have stayed there for long, at least 10 years and have carved a niche for themselves. No surprise that they terrorize everyone who is their junior. It is not unheard of for pilots to threaten to crash their craft if they were force by superiors to fly again with one of the antagonistic senior pilots. One particular case of this type was reported and investigation conducted by the Navy authorities, but it looks like no corrective measure has been put in place. In the Navy, the tradition is that the senior is always right.
The despotic and arrogant attitude of the seniors has created a division in the Squadron, where the juniors see their seniors as enemies. The trust and rapport between them is broken. This greatly hampers safe operations and inhibits a good working environment that is an important factor for aviation safety. The juniors hence find it difficult to engage the seniors in a fine conversation during flight or even offer any suggestion. No aviation organization can operate in this kind of atmosphere. This is dangerous.
It may also be of interest to know that sometimes they are given orders to fly under difficult circumstances. Two pilots were grounded for refusing to fly during bad weather. An inquiry was set up, and investigation revealed that the pilots were right for refusing to fly. But, typical of the navy, the pilots were grounded and their flying wings confiscated. It took the intervention of higher-ups to re-incorporate them back to the Air Squadron.
Equally interesting is the fact that the pilots are sometimes made to fly even when they are tired. They are made to go for maritime patrols, into Sea, when they are not trained for that. The Nigerian Navy pilots have performed deck landings on the Nigerian Navy ships NNS ARADU and NNS THUNDER several times. The question to ask is whether any of these pilots is certified for deck landings?
Also in the Navy Squadron, the pilots are only given basic training. They do not attend redundancy training, Night Flying, Deck Landings, Search and Rescue and other training packages which will make them well-rounded pilots. The aircrew, which includes the Marshallers, ATC and hoist operators, lacks adequate and certified training. Some of them receive local training at the squadron, which falls far below the required aviation standards.
From the above we can fathom that:
1. The Navy has not developed the proper professional attitude, required to conduct air operations.
2. The Navy aircrew (Pilots/Engineers, Marshallers, ATC) are not given proper training.
3. The Navy lacks a proper technical/logistics sustainment system.
4. The Navy does not have a proper welfare system for its aviators.
5. The Navy aviators lack a proper professional attitude required of aviators (they truly need a total re-orientation)
6. And because of these it would be proper for the Commander in Chief to order the Navy to stop its air operation forthwith.
Barakat wrote from Abuja.
Article and photo: http://allafrica.com
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