Faculty Aircraft: NCAA commences immediate investigation on AERO incident

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Monday said it had commenced immediate investigation to the Aero Contractor’s Lagos–Kaduna service that diverted to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Friday.

The Director General of NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman said this in a statement issued by the authority’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr Fan Ndubuoke in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) had reports that the authority demanded a Mandatory Occurrence Report (MOR) from the airline, following the technical fault developed by one of its aircraft mid-air on Friday.

The aircraft was said to have suddenly lost altitude 20 minutes after takeoff at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

Usman assured the public and all passengers that the robust safety regime of the NCAA would not be compromised during its investigation.

He said that the aircraft, a Boeing 737, 500 series with registration No. 5N-BLE and Flight No. NG 181 departed Lagos at 1735 hours with 102 passengers on board.

The Director General said that it had received the MOR from the airline and had commenced immediate investigation into the incident.

“Our 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,” he said.

Usman said that it was pertinent to note that the pilot and the crew 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.

“Hence, another aircraft was therefore provided by the airline to ferry the passengers to Kaduna,’’ he said.
Usman said that the safety and security of airline operations would continue to receive maximum attention.