NAF, AIB partner on aviation safety

Gboyega Adeoye, Lagos

The NIgerian Air Force (NAF) has restated its commitment to a safe sky for the country even as it is ready to support the civil aviation in its pursuit of the same goal.

Disclosing this recently was the Chief of Air staff Air Marshal, Paul Dike who pledged to make available to the Accident Investigation Bureau, (AIB), its facilities to help the agency during air crashes.

The two organisations agreed to work together during a courtesy call on the Chief of Staff by the Commissioner of Accident Investigation, Engr. Sam Oduselu, who also disclosed the plans of the aviation agency to work tirelessly to prevent accidents rather than waiting for accidents to happen before showing its relevance.

According to Dike, the Air Force has had its own share of air crashes in the recent past, which has prompted the leadership of the force to come up with a programme on zero tolerance for air accidents.

The Chief of Air Staff said, ‘There has been a spate of accidents in the country in the recent past. At the Nigeria Air Force, we have had our own share of accidents and to prevent air crashes, we now have zero tolerance for negligence by personnel responsible for safety. We now have a safety manual, which is a compilation of previous accidents and the summary of safety recommendations.”

Oduselu had earlier in his opening remark informed Dike who was flanked by his directors that there was a new direction in AIB, which now has well experienced aviation experts in various fields to make it one of the best accident investigation outfits in the world.

He said, “We are on a familiarisation tour as your civil counterpart. We are here to let you know that there is a new AIB that is autonomous and well positioned to carry out its respon-sibilities. We are not going to be investigating accidents but work to prevent accidents.”

Making safety recommendations, according to Oduselu, is the major tool in the hand of the agency in promoting aviation safety, adding that safety recommendations would however not be limited to accident reports alone.

The Accident Investi-gation Bureau (AIB), he said would be conducting safety, recommendation moni-toring to ensure full compliance with such recommendations that are intended to address lapses in the system and prevent future occurrences.

Said Oduselu: “Safety recommendation is vital to the Bureau’s role of accident prevention since it is the lever used to bring about safety changes to and improvements in the nation’s aviation system.”

Besides, the agency will also be gathering air data in the industry and conduct researches that are geared towards the upping the ante of aviation safety.

The AIB chief executive sought the assistance of the Air Force in making its facilities available to AIB during air crash to facilitate its efforts in investigating accidents.

These facilities include transportation logistics for accident investigators to the scene of accident, hangar for preserving accident wreckage, crane and medical pathologists.

Dike, who commended the AIB management for their initiative, said he was happy that accident prevention was one of its goals and pledged to support the agency in pursuit of its goals.

Other members of the AIB management, who were on the visit, included Capt M.S Usman, the Director of Operations, Engr Emman Dialla, Director of Engineering and Mrs O.A. Kalejaiye, Director of Human Resources and Finance.

AIB was established as an autonomous body respon-sible for investigating accidents and serious incidents with a view to determining the circum-stances and causes of the accident and to make safety recommendations.