The commissioner of Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Mr. Akin Olateru, made the following remarks at the Aviation Round Table (ART) breakfast meeting held in Lagos recently. He spoke extempore.
Ime Akpan
“Aviation is highly regulated, highly technical, and very expensive but honestly they have the highest number of illiterates. I am not talking about illiterate reader. People don’t read; people don’t understand. There is a difference between air transport economics, a commercial vessel and an aircraft engine.
“You can fly for 40 years and have no clue on how to work out breakeven load traffic because it is not part of your curriculum. We need to understand that this is a highly technical industry. We need to accept our limitations.
“We did a stakeholders’ forum; we invited all the airlines. I said it on that day there was no chief executive officer of an airline in that summit. It shows the importance they attached to it. Yes, on that day we reeled out regulations that will be binding on them.
“We have definitions of serious incidents and examples of serious incidents were showcased on that day. But some pilots do not understand the meaning of serious incident; they can’t differentiate between incident and its seriousness. Please Google ICAO Annex 13, Attachment C. It gives examples of what serious incidents are. I feel ashamed what our people argue in the papers.
“The AIB commissioner has the power to investigate an incident if he feels there are safety lessons to be learnt. So, the power goes beyond serious incidents.
Let’s take examples. The two Air Peace incidents have been in the news in the last few days. Those two incidents, did they happen? Yes. Were they classified as serious incidents by all regulations? Yes. I have the proof. If anyone is in doubt, they are welcomed to my office and I will show all the documentations that they are both serious incidents. Did Air Peace report it in accordance with extant rules? No. Do they flout our laws? Yes. What is the hullabaloo all about?
“Someone said I reported to NCAA. Is the NCAA the same as AIB? People need to educate themselves. Somebody said NCAA is the overall regulator. (The) Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is the regulator of all service providers; NCAA does not regulate AIB.
“We need to read and understand the architecture of these agencies. I feel ashamed when I read some things in the papers. I feel like crying for this country because people display so much ignorance forgetting that in the whole world aviation is one. They don’t see whether it is the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), NCAA; they see Nigeria. We have only one permanent representative to the ICAO assembly.
“We have a lot to do in this industry. We have to spend a lot of money on educating our people. The press, the media, I am begging you…please be objective. Don’t be sentimental. When it comes to safety, when it comes to security…it could be you tomorrow. I am not a shareholder in AIB; it is not my company, but I have a job to do. I have a mandate; I represent 180 million Nigerians. I owe it to them to uphold the rules and regulations that govern the (AIB) Act.
“People died in Dana crash in 2012. They were not flying; some were sleeping in their houses. This is why I represent 180 million Nigerians.
“My son is senior flight officer (SFO) in Air Peace; he flies there. Why should I want to bring down that airline? Then I must be stupid. But do I have a job to do? Yes. I have received several death threats; I don’t care. I will do it to the best of my ability…without fear or favour. Say it as it is.
“In AIB, we don’t make up stories. We work with facts and anything you here us say we have absolute supporting documents.
“Delta did the same thing. They had a serious incident…we did a press conference because Delta notified US NTSB in America. They did not notify the country of occurrence. That is a serious violation. I don’t know Delta; I don’t know who to write (to), but I did a press conference. A nine-man panel came from Atlanta the following day; they arrived Nigeria at 7am; the3y came straight to my office at 8 to apologise o us. They pledged their support to work with us.
“When this happened to Air Peace the first time, I called. We wrote; we warned them; we educated them. I sent copies of examples of what constitute serious incidents; the same chief pilot of Air Peace I sent it to him by whatsapp. Did he read it?
“We have the simplest way to report accidents or incidents. You don’t need to download any form to feel and bring to my office. Just download AIB APP on your phone; you can be through with it in five minutes. So, why is it difficult with people? Ours is not to blame; we don’t fine you at the end of the day. We prevent future occurrence. So why are you scared to report to somebody who is going to help your business?
“Somebody said ‘I filled MOR (mandatory occurrence (incident) reporting). For God’s sake, MOR is an instrument of NCAA; it is not AIB document. They are showing off their ignorance.
“The hard landing in Lagos was not an ordinary hard landing. The engine cracked the runway surface; that was not ordinary hard landing. The more you keep writing about this, the more you expose yourself. Somebody should tell them to stop it. You cannot fight this kind of war. It is not service provider war. I have been mandated to do a job. You cannot fight the constitution.”
