Page 77 - World Airnews Magazine February 2020 Edition

NEWS DIGITAL NEWS DIGITAL

NIGERIAN AIR FORCE RECEIVES
IATA COMMENDS AIR PEACE
SECOND BATCH OF AW109

to the chairman of Air Peace Allen Onyema earned Air Peace this safety recognition.
and congratulated the airline's team for The certificate gives the airline a global HELICOPTERS
The International Air Transport achieving the feat. recognition as a 100% safety-compliant
Association (IATA) has commended Air He said many airlines had started the airline", Fatokun said.
Peace for its consistency in sustaining its safety audit but were unable to complete Onyema said the IOSA certificate is
safety status since it passed its Operational it. something to be proud of and said Air
Safety Audit (IOAS) three years ago. He said that scaling through the third Peace is becoming an emerging force in
Head of account management, West and safety audit process was a testament to Air Africa's aviation landscape.
Central Africa, IATA, Samson Fatokun gave Peace's commitment to maintaining high He thanked the IATA team and the Air
the commendation to the airline in Lagos safety standards in its operations. Peace team for a successful safety audit
recently. "Many airlines are not able to achieve and said the airline would always align with
Fatokun was presenting the third IATA this because they don't have the discipline global best practices and safety standards.
Operational Safety Audit, IOSA, certificate and hard work which have consistently Q

NEWS

A CALL FOR REGIONAL

ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION

BUREAUS

By Jon Hemmerdinger

it could recommend it to ICAO, which work “in a timely way that doesn’t trash
sets guidelines for aviation crash the reputation of manufacturers or an
The Flight Safety Foundation thinks investigations. airline, and that can be treated with
that creating new, regionally based Those guidelines call for accidents to trust”, said Quinn.
aircraft crash investigation teams could be investigated by the state in which they Accident investigations involving
help bring impartiality and expertise to occur, though states may pass investiga- international parties have long proved
crash probes that might otherwise be tions to other states. Representatives of contentious, but recent crashes have The previously delivered AW109 Powers have been fitted with
countries from which affected airlines and
hamstrung by politics, bias and technical manufacturers hail are also entitled to spurred more discussion about a solution. gun and rocket pods and used on combat operations.
inexperience. participate. For instance, experts have concern The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is about to take into service two The NAF said that over the last five years it has taken delivery of
Recent commercial aircraft crashes Many countries have accident investi- whether Iranian authorities will permit an 21 new aircraft, including ten Super Mushshak trainers, 5 Mi-35M
and resulting investigations have led the gation bureaus, but only several have the unbiased review into the loss of Ukraine more AW109 Power helicopters after they were delivered by air attack helicopters (with more due to be delivered), two Bell 412
nonprofit to consider recommending such technical expertise and independence International Airlines flight PS752 on 8 from Italy recently. helicopters and four AW109 Power helicopters.
investigation teams be formed, at least from political pressure needed to January. Iran already said its military The two partially disassembled rotorcraft, along with equipment Beside these, 15 additional aircraft have been ordered by the
in some regions of the globe, said Flight complete unbiased reviews, Quinn said. accidently downed the Boeing 737-800 and spares, arrived at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport Abuja Federal Government, which include 12 Super Tucano attack aircraft
Safety Foundation chief executive Hassan “The problem we really have, which is with a missile. on board a Boeing 737-400 Cargolux Airline aircraft from Malpensa and 3 JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighter aircraft. Photos posted
Shahidi. actually acute, is that we have accident Likewise, some safety experts have International Airport in Italy recently. online earlier this month seem to indicate Nigeria’s Thunders are
“A regional model would be good first investigation authorities that are too faulted Indonesia’s investigation team for A team from the Nigerian Air Force and Leonardo Helicopters almost ready for delivery.
step… We are looking into it,” Shahidi slow, that are too biased and are too placing outsize blame on Boeing for the then proceeded to begin assembling the aircraft (NAF 579 and The NAF said it also took over 11 aircraft from other ministries,
said. inexperienced, and they don’t have October 2018 crash of a Lion Air 737 Max. NAF 578) in preparation for introduction to service. The first two departments and agencies including three EC-135 helicopters and
“What we really need is an indepen- enough resources,” he said. They have raised similar concern about were inducted on 29 April 2019 during the NAF Day celebrations in three Dauphin helicopters from the Nigerian National Petroleum
dent, well-staffed and trained cross-bor- Forming independent investigation the still-ongoing investigation into the Abuja. Corporation (NNPC), three Donier 228 aircraft and two Agusta
der international accident investigation boards could help ensure international crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max in The two latest AW109s will be deployed to theatres of operation AW101 helicopters from the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) making an
authority,” Flight Safety Foundation conflicts and diplomatic pressures do March last year. Q across the country to reinforce the Air Force’s capability in the unprecedented total of 47 aircraft that have either been inducted
general counsel Kenneth Quinn said. not influence investigations. Such groups Article courtesy: https://www. fight against insurgency and other forms of criminality, according into the NAF or ordered for the Service since 2015.
Should the group approve the idea, could be counted on to complete their flightglobal.com/ to Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, Director of Public Relations been reactivated within the past five years. Q
Meanwhile, more than 20 previously grounded aircraft have
and Information with the Nigerian Air Force.
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