When Safety comes last: behind Politics and shortterm economics.

Pam, D. R. and Ajeye, D.A.

N I G E R I A N A V I A TI O N S A FE TY I N I TI A TI V E

E-MAIL: safetyispriorityone@yahoo.com Drpam007@gmail.com

Chairman Capt. Dung Pam Executive Director late Capt. Jerry Agbeyegbe

WHEN SAFETY COMES LAST; AFTER POLITICS AND SHORT TERMECONOMICS.

Neglect of safety standards by our administrators has now transformed Aviation travel into a Greek gift to the Nigerian people. It appears to have evolved into an effective sinister means for the systematic attrition of our most valued human resource. Starting from a serving minister in the F27 off the coast of Sao Tome in 1973, C130 with over a hundred top military officers in 1992, top administrators, politicians and professionals in the ADC accident of November 1996, EAS 4th May 2002, Bellview 22nd October 2005, Sosoliso 10 December 2005, NAF 18th September 2006 and now ADC 30 October 2006. Have we now converted air travel into a tool of self destruction? Apart from the irreparable loss of life, how can you evaluate the loss of the impact of such high calibre people to our national development? Despite our independence and enormous natural resources for well over four decades, we have barely kept the position of a developing country.

For constantly underscoring the importance and urgency for Aviation safety, the nation is now paying the price in blood; very expensive and precious blood. This complacency, acute myopia and reckless negligence are tearing the fabric of our nation. Why are we sacrificing our national heroes, administrators, young dynamic entrepreneurs and professionals on the alter of personal aggrandisement or political correctness? Next to defence, aviation is the most critical sector when considering national security and economic development, due to its global nature. Any country that has independent control of its defence and aviation needs, is well on the way to becoming a super power.

A critical synopsis of our aviation history;

After over 40 years of aviation we have the following to show. 1. A national carrier that cost us over $3billion to run and ruin. Finally, it generated so much embarrassment and national shame we could not bear to rescue or redeem it. Two cancers, gross mismanagement and persistent adverse government interference 2. About 42 indigenous airlines mostly famous for being infamous; none of which is a world class airline. The current acid test is the IATA (international air transport association) operational safety audit (IOSA). Not a single maintenance facility capable of C checks for any commercial jet. Thus, most of the aeroplanes that arrive in Nigeria have an average lifespan of 5 years, after which they become cadavers defacing our airports or of late they are being put to good use by aluminium kitchen utensil makers. Not a single commercial simulator facility to cater for recurrent pilot training locally. The Nigeria College of aviation technology (NCAT) Zaria is currently in critical condition. 3. 0ver 21 Airports with infra structure were unable to maintain. How many of them have the required ICAO ARFF (international civil aviation organisation Airport
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Rescue and Fire Fighting) capability to support the aircraft their runways were designed for? Of course only five of them have proven economically viability, though cows have attempted to take over Port Harcourt and Jos airports at some point in time. The Nigeria meteorological agency (NIMET) is still unable to provide our operational airports with 24 hour reliable weather reports and forecasts. 4. A regulatory system shackled with bureaucracy and devoid of international credibility; its only hope being Nigerias strategic location, large population and the potential of being the hub in the West African subregion. Any aircraft registered in Nigeria if at all allowed to fly even to outside the continent is often subjected to humiliating detailed spot checks. For these and other reasons, most leasors will not allow their aircraft to be registered in Nigeria even if operated in Nigeria. 5. A history of fatal accidents with attendant loss of lives has earned us a place as the runner up (coming behind the DR of Congo) on the continent with the worst safety record globally. Within the last one year, our score amounts to nearly one casualty every day.

Search and rescue; emergency response.

To show how intransigent we are, we have consistently paid lip service to SAR (search and rescue). Our emergency response system has been put through its paces by the plethora of accidents/incidents and found severely wanting. Most of the rescue is usually carried out by the good hearted Nigerian villagers. Last May, the then minister claims to embark on a campaign to promote public awareness on safety search and rescue. We are still searching for the AIPB search and rescue website. Evidence suggests that most of the fatalities on ADC 053 resulted from the fire preceding the crash. Had the emergency response been swift, more lives would have been saved.
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A study conducted by the American National transportation safety board (NTSB) showed that out of the total number of fatalities recorded during aircraft crashes only 27% die on impact, 73% die because of late response time and poor rescue co-ordination. The airplanes aluminum skin may burn through in one minute, and in another two to three minutes the inside temperature reaches a lethal 1,800 F. The total elapsed time from beginning of a fuel fire until conditions become fatal is three to four minutes. Therefore, airport fire fighting personnel must arrive at the accident within three minutes if they are to have any chance of rescuing and saving passengers and crew. A case in point is the Beechcraft 200 crash at Kaduna airport on 28th November 2005. This is anomaly is not local Nigeria alone. A few instances where late and poor response has resulted in more fatalities abound. For example, on 12th August 1985, 520 people died when a Boeing 747 crashed in Japan because rescuers did not get to the scene of the crash till daylight and the 20th January 1992 Airbus A-320 crash near Strasbourg where 88 people died and only 8 survived: "At the scene was total chaos. No one knew exactly where or how they could help. A classic case of an efficient system was the Air France 358 Airbus 340 accident on August 2 2005. The aircraft over ran the runway at Pearson international airport in Toronto during a thunderstorm. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the ensuing fire, but all the 309 passengers and crew survived. A scenario that is remarkably similar to the Sosoliso accident of 10th December 2005 in Port Harcourt Nigeria with very different outcomes! This was not what our progenitors bargained for when they fought for our independence and laid the foundation for nation building including aviation development. Competition and constructive criticisms are definitely required to keep our helmsmen focused on the job theyre sworn to perform. Sometimes, in the critics voice of lies a wise note or a noble cause.
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Our ministers of aviation have not only consistently underperformed, but are fond of making public statements that at best expose their ignorance and at worse, embarrass the entire nation. This highly specialised industry requires ministers who know their onions or will take advice from those who do. The ministry has a press and legal unit as well as directorates expectedly manned by core professionals. In times like these, it is expedient to have the directors of safety and technical policy as well as transport management close by, to guide the Ministers public utterances. Recent comments credited to the Ex-Minister have been far from eloquent, legal or professional. It has become a Hallmark for our ministers to make prejudicial comments over incidents and accidents ahead of preliminary reports from the AIPB (Accident Investigation & Prevention Bureau). The essence of an investigation is not to apportion blame but to determine the contributory factors and implement measures to forestall reoccurrence (refer to ICAO annex 13). Instead of making vitriolic statements our Hon. Minister should ponder on the above. Most Nigerian aviation professionals domiciled abroad cringe with shame whenever our ministers make some unguarded public statements. Four out of five times it is a source of embarrassment when measured against the international norm. I recall a comment from an American colleague what do you expect when Jesters are running the show? I felt like exploding in rage, but I restrained myself and calmed down. After all he wasnt too far off the mark. A case in point is the unfortunate reaction of the former Minister to the incidents in Lagos and Jos on 11th & 12th June last year. The pilots were immediately declared guilty of professional negligence and sentenced to 9 months suspension with further training required before commencing any flying duties. This was prelude to any hearing, or even a preliminary report from the AIPB. NASI was the only voice to condemn that misdemeanor last year. Other memorable occasions include the Slokgate affair, age 20 rule, discovery of over 70 illegal
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aerodromes, helipads and airstrips, promises of total radar coverage since 1998 to mention but a few. In the case of ADC 053 it is heart warming to know that NAAPE has not just kept mute and the Widow of Late Capt. Atanda is crying blue murder. We are disappointed that the head of the AIPB, Engineer. Angus Azoka is neither calling the minister to order over his prejudicial reprehensive comments nor offering a preliminary report to substantiate the facts so far obtained. May we remind him; the AIPB is no longer under the office of the minister, but under the presidency. So have no fear of doing what is right. Some unconfirmed sources insist that the crew of ADC 053 were able to transmit a distress call before impact. However the FDR and CVR should point us in the right direction as to the remote and immediate causative factors of the accident. Should the flight crew be exonerated of professional negligence, the Hon. Minister would have opened his high office to avoidable litigation. The point is, At times like this, silence is golden. From an outsiders point of view, Dr. Chikwe was able to cut the lard better than her two successors. She was ambitious and her tenure was trailed with a lot of controversy, but she set the tempo for a lot of exceptional activity that was unfortunately not maintained by her successors. She had great plans but was not able to harness the synergy required to make strong positive impact within her tenure. Her Achilles heel was she could not draw the line between a firm manager and a dictator.

Have we learnt anything from past accidents?

The fundamental purpose of any accident investigation is to improve aviation safety by determining the causes of air accidents and serious incidents and making safety recommendations intended to prevent recurrence. It is not to apportion blame or liability.
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If our aviation administrators will not implement the safety recommendations proffered after accident investigations, why waste our time and resources carrying out the investigations? From April 10th 1948, Nigeria has recorded 102 aircraft accidents. Though less than half of these were fatal, all would have been subjected to detailed investigations with an ensuing report. Every conclusive investigation has a section dedicated to safety recommendations. This details measures that the investigators belief should be effected in order to prevent re-occurrence of similar accidents. The DHC-6 fatal accident of April 23Rd 1995 at Lagos airport was attributed to a weather phenomenon associated with thunderstorms known as windshear. The report recommended installation of a device LLWAS low level windshear alerting systems at our busiest airport. Ten years later, in his brief of May 2005 Mallam Yuguda claims to have installed the system. Our investigations prove that was false information. Dec 10th 2005, Sosoliso DC-9 crashes in Port Harcourt, contributory factor windshear. Last week Prof. Borishade is claiming ADC 053 was brought down by weather as well.

A detailed look at the civil aviation policy and the lofty achievements claimed by the four ministers of aviation (of the fourth republic) in their bi-annual media briefings bears no congruency to the realities on ground. One wonders if they truly read the civil aviation policy statements and verify the contents of their speeches before going in front of the cameras. For a start they all claim inheriting an industry on the verge of collapse and within months, lay claims to achieving the same landmark achievements. Though they dont deny the inherent corruption and lack of accountability within the system, they do nothing and offer no solutions for tackling it. The house committees are supposed to be a check to the excesses of the minister, or are they too busy politicking to notice the discrepancies within the system?
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The current structure has its flaws; the two major ones being addressed are the lack of an autonomous regulatory agency and an accident investigation and prevention bureau. The cancer that will destroy any structure is still there; corruption thriving under an atmosphere that lacks probity, transparency and accountability. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. May the Souls of those who have paid the price of our negligence rest in peace, and may their Spirits forgive us? Long live the people of Nigeria! Long live the Republic of Nigeria. In memory of Capt. Jerry Agbeyebe who was brutally murdered 12th October 2004, in mysterious circumstances.
Questions should be addressed to: Pam D.R. Chairman, NASI governing council Email: drpam007@aol.com +447774037263 Engr. E. Offiong- Deputy Executive Director Engr. Ajeye, D.N, NASI- USA Contributing writer: