The Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria (AIB-N) has released a report on the crash involving Quorum Aviation’s Bell 206 helicopter, 5N- BQW, saying that helicopter crashed because it did not have endurance fuel.
The chopper crashed on August 28, 2020, at Opebi in Lagos claiming all lives onboard because there was inadequate fuel in the aircraft and pilot was closer to destination when he noticed that fuel was inadequate for safe landing.
Fuel endurance is the amount of time an aircraft can stay in the air with one load of fuel.
AIB-N Commissioner, Akin Olateru explained, “Endurance is not measured from zero to end, you must have a minimum at any given time and you have to calculate your alternate airport.”
According to the report, there was fuel exhaustion at low altitude and low speed landing leading to loss of control in flight.
The report also stated that the decision of the pilot to continue the flight to the intended destination with insufficient fuel instead of landing as soon as practicable in line with section: 12.1.12 of Quorum Aviation limited operations manual Part A.
The report also blamed lack of effective management supervision of the airline’s flight operations as well as inadequate safety oversight.
The AIB-N issued three safety recommendations. First, it asked the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ensure that Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holders who wish to combine flight duties with multiple post holder positions provide NCAA with comprehensive safety risk mitigation measures to ensure that safe operations can be achieved.
The AIB-N also asked the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to focus its safety oversight to ensure that the Quorum Aviation Limited takes steps to prevent further violation of its approved operating procedures and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations.
The third safety recommendation was that Quorum Aviation Limited should ensure that all its personnel are well acquainted with their respective schedules of responsibilities and capable of discharging their duties effectively in accordance with the company’s Approved Standard Operating Procedures.
The Bureau also released reports on the accident involving Skypower Express Airways Nigeria Limited Air Tractor AT-401B Aircraft with registration 5N-BTV which occurred at Rukubi Village 90 NM South-East of Abuja on the 4th October 2018;
That of serious incident involving Nigeria Police Airwing Bell 429 Helicopter with registration 5N-MDA which occurred at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja on the 3rd August,2019.
The serious incident involving Skypower Express Airways Nigeria Limited Cessna 172 Aircraft with registration 5N-APE at Bini Village, Niger State on 19th November, 2019 and the Bulletin-Report on the ground collision involving a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Truck with registration AKD765FK and Nigeria Air Force (NAF) Bell 412 Helicopter with registration NAF 600 which occurred at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja on 15th June, 2020.
