Yemisi Izuora
The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has developed a new App that would help it enhance accident investigation and one that could help report incidence/ accidents wherever and whenever they occur.
This Application, termed, “I Report”, meaning that travellers can from wherever they are post pictures, videos and text messages of very unpleasant incidents that could assist the investigators to have first-hand information on how incident or accident occurred before the arrival of accident investigators to the scene.
The App and release of four accident reports are expected to be released and unveiled by the Commissioner, AIB, Engr. Akin Olateru.
The unveiling of the App and release of four accident reports underscore the innovation brought to the agency by Olateru in not only re-positioning the agency but to take it to a height that would make accident/incident investigation less cumbersome.
Olateru said the Application would make the job of accident investigators faster and easier, adding that anyone who is at the scene of accident or incident can easily send pictures and videos of the incident to the application.
This app will only be available on the App Store for iOS devices.
Throughout aviation’s comparatively brief history, technology has helped in properly investigating the causes of accidents/incidents and has been essential to improving flight safety, to the point that aviation is one of the safest ways to travel.
Looking at the pictures of debris of many accidents, the fact that they are able to draw useful lessons from such destruction is testament to the efforts of air accident investigators worldwide.
Meanwhile, the planned release of four more accident reports this week will bring the total accident reports by Olateru since he assumed as AIB’s Commissioner January 2017 to 12; a departure from the past where accident reports were left to gather dust on the shelf without availing the public the cause or causes of such disasters.
In one year, a flurry of activities such as dispatching a team of accident in August for São Tomé to commence investigation into the crash of a An – 74 aircraft, which occurred recently on the West African island brought respectability and confidence to the agency.
The agency also sealed a partnership agreement with the University of Ilorin on capacity building and development of material failure analysis.
Last September, capacity building in the aviation industry received a boost as the agency partnered the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the United States for one-week training in accident/incident investigation, for the benefit of the entire West African sub region.