…As Medview resumes Lagos –London flight
By Louis Ibah
The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has commissioned its Flight Safety Laboratory equipment at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, as part of measures to boost its capacity to analyse air accidents in the country.
The Commissioner/CEO of AIB, Mr. Akin Olateru, who disclosed this yesterday in Lagos said contract for the construction and equipment of the state-of-the-art laboratory was awarded by the Federal Government to Canadian firm, CEA/Flightscape at the cost of $5.8 million in 2011.
The laboratory, he said, is designed to download information from the recovered black boxes also known as Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) from crashed aircraft for a thorough and accurate accident investigation. Olateru explained that for the past six years, the laboratory could not be put to optimal use due to the non-completion of payment to the contractors and lack of human capacity in-house to manage it.
“The laboratory is now ready for use,” he said, adding that, “when I took over as the Commissioner/CEO, I made it a priority to resuscitate the laboratory considering its importance to the discharge of AIB’s responsibilities. And I galvanised all the necessary quarters to achieve this mission.”
He also said the AIB had been crippled by paucity of funds, which had stalled the release of about 35 ongoing accident investigations and had also led to the non-training of accident investigators since 2013.
He, however, said a team of accident investigation experts from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and Singaporean government had arrived the country in the last two weeks and that they had successfully concluded the training of Nigerians on the use of the facility. Olateru said the optimum performance of the laboratory was central to the bureau’s contribution to safety in Nigeria and the sub-region, stressing that the management was not unaware of the expectation of ICAO and the West African sub-region from the Nigerian AIB.
Meanwhile, reprieve came the way of hundreds of stranded passengers on the Medview Airline Lagos – London route as the airline’s Boeing 767 aircraft finally touched down the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, on Tuesday morning signaling the re-commencement of flight operations on the route.
Recall that the airline had suspended its Lagos – London operations last weekend as a result of technical issues it had with the operating aircraft it deploys on that route leaving its passengers stranded at both the Lagos and Gatwick London airports.
Daily Sun, however, learnt that the first batch of passengers from the London Gatwick Airport arrived MMIA, Lagos, aboard the Boeing 767 aircraft on Tuesday at about 7.30am.
Spokesman for the airline, Mr. Obuke Oyibotha, who confirmed the incident said, “the same aircraft, Boeing 767, is positioned to take passengers from Lagos to London on Tuesday night.
“We will resume our normal three weekly flights schedule on Wednesday as another of our aircraft, a Boeing 747, will enter service also on Tuesday night with another flight coming in from London and arriving Lagos in the early hours of Wednesday,” he added.
He said the flights disruption on the route was compounded by the accident at Gatwick Airport, which affected other airlines, and also the inability of the UK Civil Aviation Authority (UKCAA) to grant the necessary permits over the weekend for charter flights to clear the backlog of passengers.