The commissioner of Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N), Mr. Akin Olateru has attributed its non-deployment of a drone to the Quorum Aviation helicopter crash site in Opebi area of Lagos on August 28 to non-licensing of its (AIB-N’s) drone operations by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Olateru stated this at a zoom Gateway Forum organised by the League of Airport Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) in Lagos recently.
To operate a drone, he said one needs a licence and added that the agency was yet to sort out that aspect with the NCAA.
AIB is a responsible agent of government. We can’t flout any government rules and regulations. To operate a drone, you need a license and we are yet to sort that out with NCAA,” he said.
He also disclosed that part of the requirements for getting the equipment is training one’s staff on how to handle it.
“In getting the licence, part of the requirements is to train your people on how to handle the drones, which we have satisfied. The operator has to be licensed by NCAA. We are in the process of normalising our documentations,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said non-deployment of the equipment during air accident “did not affect our level of material gathering” partly because the crash site was not vast.
“The fact is drone is extremely essential when you have a wider area of crash; when you have a crash spanning about half a mile or a mile for instance.
“It takes time to walk through that to gather information or evidence, but for this one, we were fortunate the crash site was a bit contained.
“It was not over a large expanse of land. So, that is why we didn’t really miss it…deployment of drones will happen once we have necessary permit and licensing from NCAA,” he said.
On how soon the agency will be certified by the NCAA, Olateru was not specific.
“I can’t speak for NCAA. We are putting our papers together and put in our application; may be by next week. I don’t know how fast. Be mindful, this set of AIB team will probably be the first the NCAA will be licensing.
“So, it’s a new thing to NCAA, but I believe we will get there. That was why we used the NCAA approved training company to deliver that training for the investigators,” he added.
