We are ready for Federal Aviation Administration audit, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority Director General assures

As the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) commences the mandatory assessment of Nigeria’s aviation industry to retaining the Category One status achieved in September 2010 today, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said it is fully ready for the reassessment exercise.

Acting Director General of NCAA, Engr Benedict Adeyileka, who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Lagos, explained that the four-man team from the United States FAA will be in the country for the next five days. They will carry out assessment of NCAA’s compliance with applicable sections of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards contained in Annexes 1,6 and 8 as a result of the eight critical elements of a state safety oversight as described in the ICAO document 9734 A.

Although the Acting  Director General did not say if the four-man FAA team was already in Nigeria or are  still being expected at the time of compiling this report, but a highly dependable source told **Daily Independent** that the team may have arrived Nigeria  and are being taken care of by the United States Embassy in Lagos.

The NCAA boss explained that in preparation for the visit, the NCAA has provided responses to the checklist and forwarded it to the FAA team leader.

He stated that the team will also visit Arik and its facilities, as the airline currently operates directly into and out of the continental USA, which was used for their initial IASA category one assessment in 2010.

He further said that the team will use the current International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) checklist and ICAO guidance material during the assessment.

The eight critical elements include: Primary aviation legislation, specific operating regulations, state civil aviation system and safety oversight functions and technical personnel qualification and training.

Others are technical guidance and tools, licensing and certification obligations, surveillance obligations and resolution of safety concerns.

Daily Independent recalls that the immediate past Director General of NCAA, Capt Fola Akinkuotu, assured in an interview before his ouster that the body was prepared for the assessment and that a Technical Committee has been set solely to ensure that Nigeria retains Category One.

Source:    http://dailyindependentnig.com