BY OLAPEJU OLUBI
A lack of reliable flight recorder data is making it harder for the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) to determine exactly what happened when a private jet landed on a road near Asaba Airport.
The development has also raised fresh concerns over the preservation of evidence after aviation incidents, with the NSIB urging operators to ensure that critical flight information is protected immediately after an occurrence.
The NSIB Director-General, Captain Alex Badeh Jnr, said investigators were unable to obtain useful information from the flight recorders of the VMO Aero Bombardier Challenger 601-3A involved in the incident.
The aircraft, carrying seven people, four crew members and three passengers, landed on a paved road under construction near Asaba Airport instead of the intended runway.
Badeh explained that the aircraft was fitted with an old Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) capable of storing only about two hours of low-quality audio.
Because the aircraft had been registered in the United States and was being operated as a private, non-commercial flight, it was not subject to the requirement for a newer 26-hour CVR.
“They weren’t subject to the rule that requires them to have the 26-hour cockpit voice recorder.
“As such, they had an old solid state one that they recorded for two hours of low quality,” he said.
The limited recording capacity became a bigger problem when the aircraft returned to Lagos before investigators could secure the data.
“And between when the incident happened and when they took off and went back to Lagos, they overwrote everything that happened,” Badeh said.
Investigators also found that the aircraft’s Flight Data Recorder (FDR) was not functioning.
The FDR is designed to capture important details about an aircraft’s operation, including altitude, speed, direction and other flight parameters.
“And, of course, the FDR of that aeroplane did not work as well. I’m not sure what happened. And I think it was part of the prelim. I’m not sure, but it didn’t work. So, that was an issue,” the NSIB boss said.
Despite the evidence gaps, Badeh said the bureau would rely on other available information and would not rush to apportion blame.
“But I’m not going to blame the operator or the airline just yet. We’ll wait and see what the final report says on that,” he said.
The incident has prompted the NSIB and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to place greater emphasis on the immediate preservation of flight data following incidents.
According to Badeh, the NCAA has issued two Letters of Investigation reminding operators to preserve relevant evidence, while the NSIB has also held a workshop with operators on the issue.
“They’ve put out two LOIs now, to my knowledge, reminding them to preserve data.
“We at the NSIB have had a workshop as well with operators, encouraging them to preserve data,” he said.
Badeh said he was not aware of any deliberate attempt by airlines to destroy evidence.
“I don’t think airlines are doing anything deliberately, at least not to my knowledge,” he said.
While the VMO Aero investigation faces evidence challenges, the NSIB is also working to conclude its investigation into the Enugu Air Embraer 190 serious incident at Benin Airport.
The aircraft, carrying 63 passengers and five crew members, was involved in a runway excursion while landing at the airport.
Badeh said the bureau was expected to issue its preliminary report by mid-August.
He said the preliminary report would provide initial findings and should not be interpreted as the bureau’s final conclusion on the cause of the incident.
“We have had incidents, but no fatalities. That’s good. But I’m not particularly pleased with what I’ve seen, especially the last two incidents with what’s their name, the VMO Aero and then with the Enugu Air,” he said.
“So, we’ll see with the preliminary what’s going on with that one. But I’m not too pleased with that,” he added.
Beyond the investigations, Badeh said the bureau was also reviewing how it follows up on safety recommendations issued after accident and incident reports.
He admitted that the existing process had not been sufficiently effective.
“We have a working group for these safety recommendations, and they do follow back and forth on certain ones.
“But I will admit and say we have not followed up on that, you know. We’re not a perfect agency,” he said.
To improve the process, the NSIB plans to establish an Office of Safety Recommendations whose sole responsibility will be to track whether recommendations are implemented.
“That’s why the Office of Safety Recommendations is coming in. So, we have somebody whose job and only job in the NSIB is to follow up on these things,” Badeh said.
The bureau hopes the new structure will ensure that safety recommendations do not simply end with the release of investigation reports but result in practical measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Olapeju is a journalist and aviation reporter.
