The Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria (AIB-N) has released four preliminary reports on serious incidents and accident involving aircraft owned and operated by United Nigeria Airlines Limited, Max Air, Air Peace and the Nigerian Police Air Wing.
The report on the serious incident involving the United Nigeria Airlines Embraer 145LR which occurred on 17th November, 2021 at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja showed that the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) did not record this flight as the last recorded flight on the FDR was dated 14th February, 2021.
On the incident involving Max Air Boeing 737-300 aircraft, which was parked at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja which was involved in an on-ground collision with Skyway Aviation Handling Co. Plc (SAHCO) lavatory service truck with fleet number 9/5 on 21st November 2021. AIB-N recommended that SAHCO PLC should ensure adherence to the provisions section 19(1) of Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents and Incidents) Regulations 2019 regarding tampering with evidence.
Other reports include the serious incident involving a Boeing 737-300 aircraft owned and operated by Air Peace Limited which occurred after take-off from Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, Nigeria enroute Lagos on 22nd November, 2021.
In the accident involving a Bell 429 helicopter owned and operated by Nigeria Police Air Wing, which occurred at the Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Airport, Bauchi, Nigeria on 26th January, 2022, AIB-N blamed the incident on a breakdown of onboard equipment and communication gaps between the crew and control towers.
The Bureau noted that investigations were still ongoing as the preliminary reports are not the final reports as they only contain details of the initial facts, discussions and findings surrounding the occurrences; which include information gathered from witness statements, flight recorders, Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS) Data, Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) data, and preliminary inspection of the accident sites and the wreckages.
