The Director and Chief Executive of Centre for Aviation safety and Research (CAS-R), Mr. Sheri Kyari, has commended the chairman of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Capt. NogieMeggison for faulting agitation by some members of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) who called on the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to carry out post-shipment inspection of aircraft.
Faulting the agitation, Meggison said the proposal may affect the safety and development of the aviation sector as aircraft that do not fit into the Nigerian civil aviation specifications in terms of airworthiness could be flown in.
He said the usual practice where aircraft safety inspectors from the NCAA travel to the maintenance facility or the manufacturer’s facility or country of sale to carry out the necessary check on the aircraft before being flown into Nigeria is better than post-arrival inspection.
He said defects or faults found by NCAA inspectors on any aircraft requiring rectification could be carried out at the seller’s or C Check Maintenance Repair Organization (MRO), before such planes are flown into Nigeria.
The AON chairman had argued that if any aircraft with technical defects or that which has airworthiness issues is not inspected before shipping it to the country it could become a problem for both NCAA and the affected operator-whether commercial or private.
Reacting to the issue, Kyari has cautioned against such move saying it would compromise safety.
He said the airlines’ demand was not in line with the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) application processes at present.
“It will be more expensive for the AON members if the request is granted. Assuming that they fly the aircraft into the country before inspection is done who would bear the cost of parking the aircraft until NCAA is ready for inspection because they will be required to do storage maintenance to keep the craft in some airworthy conditions.
“Again, will the owner of the aircraft fly in every document and the people the NCAA will need to talk to, including the aircraft’s state of registry? Should NCAA need further clarification of the state of the aircraft from prior owners, how easy would it be for NCAA? And, if at the end of the inspection, the aircraft is not found airworthy and they have paid for it, what will happen?”
He counseled AON to ask for reprieve in some other areas other areas to reduce costs.
“To my mind, one major area they could seek reduction is the number of hours required for demonstration flight-which is about fifty hours. The hours are too many and can be appealed for reduction. They need to do a lot of homework on this area so that the industry is not littered with rejected aircraft that may not leave our airports,” said Kyari.
