Yemisi Izuora
The Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, is still handling about 37 accidents, the outcome which it will make public when concluded.
The AIB, commissioner, Akin Olateru who disclosed this at a forum organised by the Aviation Round Table (ART) in Lagos said the cases were pending at the bureau at the time he resumed office in January.
Olateru, however, assured that the reports of four accidents would be made known by next week while a minimum of 10 accident reports would also be released to the public before the end of the year.
He stressed that the era of keeping accident reports in the bureau’s wardrobe was over with his management team.
Apart from the Dana crash report, AIB would also send the crashes of the last two Bristow Helicopters and one AOS Helicopters to the presidency for approval.
The first of the two Bristow Helicopters crashes occurred on August 13, 2015, at the Oworonshoki Area of the Third Mainland Bridge with six fatalities while six others sustained serious injuries.
The second, which also crashed into the high sea was coming from an offshore platform, but without fatalities.
Also, the AOS helicopters crash occurred on July 29, 2011, between Ife and Ogbomosho.
The reports of the accident would be made public by next week, he assured, adding “Let me give you an example, I took over AIB on January 13, 2017, there were 37 pending accident investigation and the first question I asked was how many accidents do we have in a year that we have 37 pending accident investigation?
Today, I’m proud to tell you, four reports are on their way to the president including Dana, two Bristow and AOS Helicopters reports. And by next week, we will make them official reports.
“Before the end of this year, by the special grace of God, we will release a minimum of 10 reports. There must be a big paradigm shift in the way we do things.”
He further lamented that there are only “one and a half pilots” while none specialises on helicopter accident investigation despite the frequencies of helicopter crashes in the country.
He declared again that AIB does not have any emergency code number that public could contact in case of an accident, promising to change all that soon.
“It is one and a half pilots that we have in AIB. I said one and a half because we have a fresh one who is just joining us. Is that the kind of manpower that can actually investigate accident reports? We have more helicopter incidents than fixed wing incidents in this industry, yet, you don’t have one single helicopter pilot in AIB.
“These are the issues I’m taking up with the honourable minister and he’s willing to support. We need to strength the system and we can’t just fold our hands.
“We don’t even have an emergency response team in AIB. Who do you call even when you need a crane, we don’t know? Most of our management team does not know the number to call in case of an accident. There is nowhere anyone will remember the 11 digit numbers. Rather, we need a unique three digit number.
“We don’t have a control room in AIB. Once it is 4 to 5pm, the company shuts down and I try to remind them that accidents in most times occur in the evening and on weekends. So, we must have a functional control room, radio, and monitor things that are going on. Reporting accident is another issue. We have to make it seamless” he said.