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NCAA certifies aircraft in Air Peace fleet airworthy

Louis Ibah

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Sunday released a technical audit conducted on Air Peace Airline in the wake of recent incidences in Port Harcourt and Lagos airports saying all the aircraft in the fleet of the airline are airworthy. 

The NCAA in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, said the certification exercise (which was extended to Air Peace’s operations in the last 12months) had become necessary to assure passengers of their safety while flying the carrier within and outside the country.

Adurogboye, however, said the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) was currently carrying out an in-depth investigation into the incident leading to the airline’s loss of its front tyres while landing on the runway of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, to determine the immediate and remote causes as required by International Standards stipulated in International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 13.

“The NCAA awaits the conclusion and report of the AIB. However, the NCAA has just completed a thorough technical audit of the airline and its fleet of aircraft and this is to assure the flying public that all the aircraft on the fleet of NCAA are air-worthy,” Adurogboye said.

“This technical audit was not limited to this recent incident. The airline operational, technical and safety performance in the last 12 months were also scrutinised with a view to ensuring the airline is in compliance with extant Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations, and to mitigate the re-occurrence of the incident,” said Adurogboye.

On Saturday,  the pilot who flew the Air Peace Boeing 737-300 aircraft on July 23, 2019 which had its nose wheel collapsed, Capt. Simisola Ajibola, broke her silence on the incident when she told journalists that the aircraft did not land at the Lagos airport without its front tyres.

“The report about initial landing without tyres was not true. The incident happened after we touched down,” said Ajibola.

“I didn’t go into the air without tyres; we weren’t on a decent without tyres. Some reports say we called for emergency while in the air and that is not true. It was after we landed we asked for emergency services. So whatever happened, happened on the runway on that day.

“We had a very serviceable aircraft. Our aircraft are machines that are well maintained. It wasn’t the first flight of that day. When we flew the aircraft it was perfectly in good shape,” added Ajibola.

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