TheCable

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has released final reports of investigation into four accidents and two serious incidents that occurred between 2012 and 2018.

Among the report was the accident involving the late Danbaba Suntai, former governor of Taraba state, who piloted a Cessna 208B Caravan aircraft which crashed on October 25, 2012, near Yola airport, Adamawa state capital.

The crash had left the late governor in a critical state before his death in 2017.

Speaking during a briefing on Thursday, Akin Olateru, commissioner of AIB, said investigation showed that the late governor was not “certified, qualified and competent to fly the aircraft”.

He said the bureau could not conclusively determine the cause of the accident and the aircraft maintenance history was not found in the registry of any aircraft maintenance organisation.

“However, the investigation identified the following factors which were that the pilot was not certified qualified and not competent to fly the aircraft, the decision of the pilot to operate a Visual Flight Rule (VFR) flight after sunset and inadequate oversight by the NCAA,” Olateru said.

He, therefore, charged the NCAA to be more alive with their oversight responsibility.

Olateru said 24 safety recommendations were generated from the six final reports, adding that the AIB now had a total of 46 final reports and 178 safety recommendations since its inception in 2007.

“These safety recommendations are very important towards preventing re-occurrence of similar accidents or serious incidents, and when adhered to, can impact air safety positively, not only in Nigeria, but also globally,” he said.