Stories by Louis Ibah

Worried by the rising incidence in aircraft collision at the apron of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, the Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau (AIPB) has called on the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to construct another “quasi-control tower” at the Lagos airport.

The AIB in its latest report on the causes of such collisions said the existing control tower at the Lagos airport lacked the capacity to effectively monitor everything that happens at the apron of the Lagos airport, particularly the domestic terminal (MMA1) where more ground accidents have been recorded in recent years. Such ground accidents involved Emirates Airline, Hak Air, First Nation, Air Peace and Arik Air with the affected airlines reporting losing millions of naira in trying to fix the damaged parts of the aircraft.  

Managing Director/CEO of Air Peace Limited, Mr. Allen Onyema, who decried the trend, disclosed the loss of over N3 billion by the airline due to damages to some of its aircraft parts at the Lagos and Benin airports, which had also led to the grounding of the affected aircraft as well as the attendant flight cancellations and delays.

Said Onyema: “We lost three aircraft in one day; two of them in Lagos when there was a collision that destroyed the winglet of these aircraft, and the other incident happened in Benin airport when Sahcol (a ground handling company) damaged that aircraft. And we spent over N3 billion trying to fix these aircraft.”          

According to AIB, a quasi-control tower will enable the proper monitoring of the activities of the “marshallers” so that they can control and direct an aircraft to park at the apron and also assist pilots to maneuver their aircraft to avoid any form of ground collision.

A case study with the Air Peace accident

The AIB in its report had this to say on the latest ground collision incident involving two aircraft belonging to Air Peace Airlines Limited, which occurred close to Bay 4 of the Domestic Terminal 1 of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, on April 20, 2017.

Synopsis

Related News

The ground collision incident occurred between two aircraft belonging to Air Peace Airlines: a Boeing 737-500 with registration 5N-BQR and a stationary Boeing 737-300 with registration 5N-BQP. 5N-BQR was attempting to taxi between 5N-BQP and a Boeing 737-700 aircraft with registration 5N-MJJ belonging to Arik Airlines Nigeria Limited, which was boarding passengers at Bay 5 of the Domestic Terminal 1 (DT1) apron at the time of the incident.

Various factors contributed to the incident including the decision of the Captain to reposition the aircraft without requesting for a push-back, maneuvering the aircraft without the aid of marshallers and instead relying on the company’s engineers who are inexperienced wing walkers; the decision of the crew to taxi the aircraft without properly assessing the maneuverability of the aircraft at the parking bay; the non-availability of proper apron markings and marshallers; the presence of cautionary cones at strategic areas where repair work on the apron was awaiting cure. The limited maneuvering space between 5N-BQP and 5N-MJJ also contributed to the incident.

Preventing future occurrences

The AIB in its report said FAAN should engage more marshallers and ensure adequate training and retraining for these aircraft ground guides.  “FAAN should also establish a quasi-apron control room at the Lagos airport domestic terminal and should provide all necessary personal protective equipment and spares for marshallers and other relevant personnel,” the AIB said.

“Our statutory obligation is to investigate air accidents and serious incidents: and by our safety recommendations, mitigate them in order to forestall reoccurrence. The NCAA should ensure that proper regulatory oversight is carried out on operators using the General Aviation Terminal of the Lagos airport,” the AIB added. 

The AIB also had recommendation that could assist in stemming air crashes by cadet pilots of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT).

“NCAT should ensure that Flying Instructors checking out students on solo flight must at all times be at the control tower to monitor the progress of the flight,” the AIB said.

“NCAT should also procure equipment and train relevant personnel to conduct toxicological examination in its aero medical facility. In accordance with the Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents and Incidents) Regulations 2016 of the bureau,  being a safety house and  because of the safety lessons to be learnt, as a way of moving forward, we plan on increasing our safety awareness through stakeholders’ interactive sessions and media houses,” it added.