Aviation Expert Says Human Errors Cause of Air Peace crashes, not Tyres!

+ What caused 2006 ADC Airline crash that killed Sultan of Sokoto

Contrary to some media reports that the recent crashes recorded by Air Peace, one of Nigeria’s leading airlines were caused by faulty and substandard tryes, experts have revealed that the crashes were caused by human errors and judgments.

Experts who spoke on the matter disclosed that tyres of airplanes are replaced as at when due and that saying that some crashes by Air Peace and some other crashes that have occurred in Nigeria in the past were due to faulty tyres supplied by Airline Management Support Limited were deliberately conjured up to tarnish the image of the company in the industry as there were no facts to substantiate the spurious allegations.

Airline Management Support Limited is a world class service company that is dedicated to providing Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, Hawker, ATR, Embraer aircraft airframe families with Aircraft Tyres & Aerospace Fluid and providing maintenance solutions for its clients in Central and West Africa.

In an apparent campaign of calumny, the sponsored reports by some online media, had blamed the cause of the incessant problems in the aviation industry on sharp practices by the airline’s procurement department and the tyre supplier for the airline.

“What they do is to collect all the used tyres and send them by container to Dunlop retreading factory in China where they would be re-packaged and ship back for our airlines just like ‘tokunboh’ tyres. Isn’t it curious that an airline will record similar accidents within months,” they stated in the report.

The purveyors of the obvious fake news further said that the company headed by Capt. Ekundayo Olubadewo is a major airline tyre supplier in Nigeria, and because of its alleged sharp practices, that Arik Air remains the only company that has refused to patronise it, thus buys directly from the manufacturers.

But after a thorough investigations by this magazine, it was revealed that all the allegations of sharp practices made against Airline Management Services Limited were all tissues of lies, woven to de-market the reputable company in the aviation industry.

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Investigations have since revealed that the reports were a campaign of calumny against Airline Management Support Limited.

The company is reputed as the sole distributor of Dunlop Aviation Tyre in the whole of West Africa and they even supply tyre for military aircrafts in the country.

The allegation that the company recycles bad tyres and sell to aviation companies was discovered to be a false information as the use of retreaded tyres is a common practise in the industry.

An expert, who spoke on the matter revealed that definitely everyone uses retread tyres including, Emirates Airlines, as long as it is done by the original manufacturer.

“This is the standard practice in the industry worldwide When I was in Saudi, even Saudi Arabian airlines uses retread. Emirate airline and Lufthansa does the same

“With their volume they cannot throw away the tyres after the first change. Let me even inform you that retreaded tyres are even better than the unused ones, because they are taken back to the original manufacturer and retreaded.

“Those who are saying these rubbish don’t know anything about the aviation industry and aircraft maintenance. I have put in over 25 years in the industry, and know what I’m talking about,” he said.

Referring to one of the crash incidents of Air Peace, the expert stated that the pilot should not have landed in that condition but ‘do a go around’, wondering how “arm chair experts reason.”

“The whole landing gear collapsed and it was not caused by tyre. The nose tyre was not busted as I saw it lying around the airplane.

“Even the issue they had in Port Harcourt, the pilot landed in very bad weather and overshot the runway,” he said.

In a memo to the staff of Air Peace Limited, sighted by our reporter, the Chief Pilot of the company, Captain Victor Egonu reportedly admonished the staff to be careful and prevent avoidable human errors during flight operations.

He was said to have alerted the staff of the company that Air Peace had recorded more crashes than all other airlines in the country combined in the last six months and blamed all incidents on errors of judgement by the pilots.

“None of us can walk around with our heads held high, we have crashed more aircrafts in 6 months than ……..We should be ashamed,” the Air Peace pilot was reported to have lamented, urging the airline pilots to take their jobs seriously.”

Egonu never made reference to faulty tyres in the memo and only dwelt on human errors, which he strongly warned the staff and crew members of the company against.

The fake media reports against the company added that Airline Management Support Limited was allegedly culpable in the 2006 ADC plane crash that killed the former Sultan of Sokoto and several others, that the investigations by Nigerian Civil Aviation Control Authority and Accident Investigation Bureau placed the cause of the crash on bad tyres.

This was however, contrary to the reports of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) on the said air crash.

AIB, in the reports on the ADC Airline crash of 2006 obtained by our reporter, stated that Immediately after takeoff from runway 22, the Boeing 737 entered into a headwind -shift to-tailwind windshear, which significantly affected the aerodynamic performance of the airplane.

“The Pilot Flying responded to the windshear by adding a small amount of power and by pulling back on the control column causing a significant pitch attitude change.

“The Pilot-not-flying responded to the windshear by calling for the Pilot Flying to pull up.

“The airplane then entered into a full aerodynamic stall followed by a roll to the left of over 90 degrees and steep descent into the ground.

“The aircraft was pitched to an attitude that resulted in the temporary disruption of airflow to and momentary loss of power in both engines. The airplane broke up and caught fire in a corn field,” it stated in the report.

On the probable cause of the crash, the AIB said that the cause could divided into Causal Factor and Contributory Factor.

On the Causal Factor, the agency revealed that the pilot’s decision to take-off in known adverse weather conditions and failure to execute the proper windshear recovery procedure resulted in operating the aircraft outside the safe flight regime, causing the aircraft to stall very close to the ground from which recovery was not possible.

The Contributory Factors, it said include, “iInability of the flight crew to apply windshear recovery procedures and the use of inappropriate equipment for windshear recovery procedure during simulator recurrrecncy. Lack of company Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for flight operations in adverse weather conditions.

“The coordination of responsibilities between the pilot-flying (PF) and pilot not flying(PNF) during their encounter with adverse weather situation was inconsistent with Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the duties of the pilot-flying (PF) and pilot not flying(PNF) resulting in the inadequate control of the aircraft.”

Here is the summary of the AIB report on the ADC Airline crash of 2006:

Narrative:
A Boeing 737-200 passenger plane, registered 5N-BFK, was destroyed when it crashed near Abuja International Airport (ABV), Nigeria. There were 100 passengers on board and five crew members. Eight passengers and one crew member survived the accident.
ADC Airlines Flight 53 departed Lagos (LOS) on a scheduled domestic flight to Sokoto (SKO) with an intermediate stop at Abuja (ABV). At Abuja at 11:14 local time, the crew of the aircraft requested start-up clearance. This was given along with the prevailing weather information. At 11:21, the crew requested clearance to taxi to the holding point and a wind check; both were given. Over the following six minutes Abuja Tower gave a series of six wind reports, including a statement emphasizing the gusty nature of the wind. A thunderstorm was approaching the airport and weather was worsening. At 11:26, the crew of flight 53 requested clearance for immediate takeoff, and the controller re-emphasized the deteriorating weather condition and gave latest wind check, which they acknowledged.
Immediately after takeoff from runway 22, the Boeing 737 entered into a headwind -shift to-tailwind windshear, which significantly affected the aerodynamic performance of the airplane.
The Pilot Flying responded to the windshear by adding a small amount of power and by pulling back on the control column causing a significant pitch attitude change.
The Pilot-not-flying responded to the windshear by calling for the Pilot Flying to pull up. The airplane then entered into a full aerodynamic stall followed by a roll to the left of over 90 degrees and steep descent into the ground. The aircraft was pitched to an attitude that resulted in the temporary disruption of airflow to and momentary loss of power in both engines. The airplane broke up and caught fire in a corn field.

Probable Cause:

CAUSAL FACTOR:
The pilot’s decision to take-off in known adverse weather conditions and failure to execute the proper windshear recovery procedure resulted in operating the aircraft outside the safe flight regime, causing the aircraft to stall very close to the ground from which recovery was not possible.
CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS:
(1) Inability of the flight crew to apply windshear recovery procedures and the use of inappropriate equipment for windshear recovery procedure during simulator recurrrecncy. Lack of company Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for flight operations in adverse weather conditions.
(2) The coordination of responsibilities between the pilot-flying (PF) and pilot not flying(PNF) during their encounter with adverse weather situation was inconsistent with Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the duties of the pilot-flying (PF) and pilot not flying(PNF) resulting in the inadequate control of the aircraft.

Accident investigation:

Classification:

Windshear/downdraft
Loss of control

Sources:

» SKYbrary 
» 100 Feared Killed in ADC Air Crash (This Day 29-10-2006)
» FG Suspends ADC Operating Licence (This Day 31-10-2006)

METAR Weather report:

08:00 UTC / 09:00 local time:
DNAA 290800Z 00000KT CAVOK 27/24 Q1012 NOSIG=

10:00 UTC / 11:00 local time:
DNAA 291000Z 27006KT 9999 BKN012 30/24 Q1011 NOSIG=

13:00 UTC / 14:00 local time:
DNAA 291300Z 00000KT 9999 FEW010 FEW020CB BKN100 25/22 Q1009 NOSIG=

14:00 UTC / 15:00 local time:
DNAA 291400Z 00000KT 9999 FEW010 FEW020CB BKN100 26/23 Q1008 TEMPO 06022G35KT 5000 TS=

However, the legal team of  Airline Management Support Limited, Glassy Gold Solicitors has described the fake report against the company as a campaign of calumny.

In the statement, which was signed by the Principal Counsel of the chamber, Mr. Francis Ogunbowale, the law firm implored the general public “to ignore any unverified negative report or misinformation against AMSL and rather approach the appropriate government agencies saddled with airline investigation for accurate report or information on any incident or matter pertaining to the aviation industry.”

Ogunbowale added in the statement that “AMSL shall continue to be focussed in its service delivery and provide adequate support to airlines within and outside the country according to its widely acclaimed objects.”