Yemisi Izuora
The Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA), Capt. Muhtar Usman has assured that a thorough investigation will be carried out on the the recent incident involving Aero Contractor’s Lagos – Kaduna service that led to the aircrafts divertion to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, last Friday.
The aircraft type, a Boeing 737 – 500 series with registration no. 5N – BLE and Flight no. NG 181departed Lagos at 1735 hours with 102 passengers on board.
The NCAA has received the Mandatory Occurrence Report (MOR) from the airline and has commenced immediate investigation into the incident and its Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI) designated to the Airline are already critically studying the report which will assist in the requisite investigation.
‘The airline’s Engineers have fixed the aircraft, however; our Inspectors would still carry out the mandatory investigations to determine the cause of the incident, ‘the agency said.
The DG noted that the Pilot and the crew however managed the flight in line with Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) and landed the aircraft safely.
It will be recalled that the Aero flight suffered a depressurised cabin which triggered the oxygen masks to drop and the flight was diverted. Another aircraft was therefore provided by the airline to ferry the passengers to Kaduna.
Capt. Usman also re- assured Nigeria’s flying public that the robust safety regime of the NCAA will not be compromised, adding ‘Safety and security of our airline operations will continue to receive maximum attention’.