The Federal Government, according to Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Odua, is planning to set a 15-year age ceiling for aircraft used in domestic flight operations. For now, the age limit is 22 years which some airlines observe in breach! This proposal came up at the just-concluded African Aviation Stakeholders’ Conference held in Abuja. This latest idea on reduction of aircraft life span in Nigeria is obviously a reaction to the Dana Airline tragedy which occurred on June 3, 2012. It is strange that we have to wait for a fatality of this magnitude to take place before tinkering with aviation policies as they affect aircraft used in Nigeria. In other countries, this is a routine exercise by regulatory and supervisory agencies charged with such responsibilities. We do not know the parameters that informed both the current 22 years and the 15-year suggestion. The adjustment from 22 to 15 is not very significant. We are of the thinking that a benchmark of 10 years should be ideal especially against the background of our nonchalance to fleet management and other tangential matters. Beyond the issue of aircraft age, there is a greater challenge of maintenance of the planes used locally. Most times in the past accidents had been attributed to ill-maintained aircraft thrown up in the air to chance as a way of cutting operational corners at the risk of innocent people’s lives. There is a callous culture of poor maintenance not just in the airline business but all other segments of our life that has become institutionalized. Other pertinent aspects of our aviation sector, which transcend aircraft age, are the history (which of course includes pattern of usage), make/model of aircraft, pilot certification and the qualification of the engineering crew at all operational levels. All these dimensions determine, one way or another, the safety profile of aircraft and air space. At the basic level, we take it for granted that directional facilities and ground personnel cannot be found wanting. Once this foundational element of flight business is fiddled with, even if a brand new aircraft is deployed there would be no guarantee of an accident-free aviation record. In other words, human factor/error counts so much in airline business. We do not understand why an airline would set out to endanger the lives of its clientele by flying aircraft that they know full well is not in good condition or whose lifespan has exceeded the official limit . What profit is there to be made that would catalyse such a preposterous decision? In any case, when a mishap eventually occurs, avoidable human losses are recorded, gargantuan compensations by way of insurance and other allied payments are made, airline reputational damage and poor public perception that may never be redeemed hallmark such misadventures! So, what is the benefit of such fatalistic decisions that border on callousness, greed and unprofessionalism? Apart from the aircraft age review on the drawing board, the government should evolve stringent safety measures and strengthen existing operational guidelines for the aviation sector in order to curtail accidents in this mode of transport that is touted as the safest and fastest means of movement of people and goods from one point to another. We commend the Aviation Minister for nurturing the notion of updating the chronology of aircraft used locally on our shores from 22 to 15 years. This would at least reduce the incidence of some avoidable crashes involving our local airlines. All hands must be on deck to ensure overall safety of all stakeholders, which include patrons who are more endangered in the event of any accident. Let the planned age regime come to reality—and not crash under ministerial bureaucracy which is typical of administrations in Nigeria or coercive pressure from selfish airline operators who prefer to cut corners! The Ministry of Aviation in conjunction with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) must sit up and enforce flight safety stipulations as obtains in other parts of the world.
SOURCE: 2 July 2012.
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