NAF Pilots, Jets Quality, Questioned After Serial Deadly Crashes

The recent crash of a Nigerian Air Force aircraft  in which the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, died and two other accidents this year have raised many questions with experts seeking an overhaul of the entire system, ADELANI ADEPEGBA writes

Three deadly crashes involving Nigerian Air Force Beechcraft King Air and an Alpha Jet aircraft between February and May this year have whipped up questions about the quality of the nation’s military air assets and also created doubts about the capability of Nigerian Air Force pilots. The incidents have also elicited various conspiracy theories about the causes of the accidents.

The Beechcraft crashes claimed 18 lives, including the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, fuelling national discontent and discourse about military aviation safety in the country. The fact that two crashes occurred within weeks of each other might be cause for alarm for this popular twin turboprop.

The first Beechcraft accident involved a King Air B350i aircraft, which crashed while returning to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after reporting engine failure en route Minna on February 21, 2021. Seven crew members on board the jet died; an investigation into the crash is ongoing.

On March 31, a NAF Alpha jet with two crew members carrying out a mission against Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State disappeared from the radar around 6pm and has not been found. The cause of the crash and the whereabouts of the pilots remain unknown. The NAF has declared the pilots, Flight Lieutenants John Abolarinwa and Ebiakpo Chapele, missing in action.

Eight weeks after the crash of the King Air B350i, another Beechcraft B300 King Air 350i ferrying 11 senior officers went down in Kaduna, killing all the passengers and crews. The accident was attributed to bad weather, but the Air Investigation Bureau, Nigeria, which is probing the incident, said it had recovered the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder.

Crashes involving 11 NAF aircraft have claimed no fewer than 33 military officers, including three civilian passengers between 2015 and 2021.

Worthy of note is the fact that similar crashes involving the Beechcraft series in the United States are similarly raising concerns about the King Air family, which has been in continuous production since 1974, the longest production run of any civilian turboprop aircraft in its class. It has outlasted all of its previous competitors.

The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by Beechcraft. According to Wikipedia, the Model 200 and Model 300 series were originally marketed as the ‘Super King Air’ family; the ‘Super’ designation was dropped in 1996. They form the King Air line together with the King Air Model 90 and 100 series.

 

Two deadly Beechcraft King Air accidents on June 22 in Hawaii, and June 30 in Texas, accounted for 21 of the 57 business aviation fatalities during the first half of 2019. A commercial pilot and 10 passengers were killed on the Hawaii flight, while two pilots and eight passengers died in the second incident.

Since October 2014, there have been at least five King Air accidents during takeoff or initial climb in the US. During each of these events, including the two crashes in Hawaii and Texas, the pilot lost control of the aircraft shortly after takeoff. In four of these events, the aircraft wreckage hit structures on or near an airport.

In response to the incidents, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, set up an audit committee comprising serving and retired senior officers to conduct a safety audit of all NAF operational and engineering units. The committee is to, among other things, analyse safety reports from operational and engineering units, conduct safety evaluation of NAF units and recommend measures to enhance safety of operations in the units. Chaired by AVM Abraham Adole, the Deputy Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai, the committee is to submit its report no later than June 18.

Commenting on the crashes, Group Capt. Shehu Sadeek (retd.), noted that 80 per cent of air accidents were caused by human error, which ranged from pilot, air traffic controller and aircraft engineer error. The other 20 per cent, he added, could be attributed to weather and acts of God, noting that experience had shown that many factors often contributed to air mishaps.

According to him, human errors are categorised into slips and lapses, which refer to failure to follow the stipulated procedures, inadequate pilot training and poor judgment.

He revealed that about 3,100 Beechcraft planes had been bought, adding that the series had been involved in 523 accidents or near misses.

“But what did the investigations find? Most of the accidents involving the Beechcraft had nothing to do with its engines, or propellers; they had to do with pilot error and weather. There are aircraft that didn’t last long, they were phased out by

Sadeek, who was a course mate to Attahiru, noted that as aircraft goes, the Beechcraft was a good platform, adding that the AIB should, however, extend its investigation from the aircraft to the human factor – the NAF personnel linked to the flights.

He commended the NAF for inviting the AIB to be part of the investigation, noting that the armed forces do not usually invite civilian bodies to investigate military crashes.

The former pilot, who spoke on Channels Television, dismissed speculations that the pilots probably did not possess the requisite experience, maturity or ranks to captain the aircraft conveying the CoAS and other senior officers.

He stressed that Flt. Lts. Olufemi Asaniyi and Alfred Olufade had grossed sufficient flight hours, adding that his investigation revealed that Asaniyi had grossed 2,450 flight hours on the Beechcraft, more than the 1,500 hours required to be a pilot.

He argued, “The other issue now is about experience, that is, the age to make judgment. Again, some people have said that a flight lieutenant of that rank should not be flying a high personality. Well, there are things to be said for that: There is this African adage that a young man can have more clothes than an old man, but he cannot have more rags than the old man. Sometimes, experience is built over the years.

“Looking at global best practices, in civil aviation, the average age of a commercial pilot is 45 to 50 years. There is a reason for that. Any pilot, who has flown, will tell you that there were days when he was drenched in sweat and knew it was a close call. These near-misses and misses are eventually what the pilot does when he is in a tight corner.

“We might debate that at 29 years, even though they have met that minimum requirement, but do they have experience, especially in a military environment? In aviation, the pilot is the commander-in-chief irrespective of the cadre of the person he is flying. I heard of cases where the pilot told the President: ‘We’re not flying.’ Now, this was a Lieutenant-General versus a Flight Lieutenant; so, there is that tendency to force it, but an older pilot would have more confidence to say: ‘Chief of Army Staff sir, we cannot take this flight’.”

Reviewing the sequence of events leading to the crash of the ill-fated Beechcraft, a former Fleet Operations Officer, Presidential Air Fleet, Air Vice Marshal Gbolahan Adekunle (retd.), stated that another aircraft, which also could not land at the NAF base due to bad weather, landed at the Kaduna airport shortly before the accident.

The former Chief of Policy and Plan and Chief of Training and Operations, NAF headquarters, explained that the Beechcraft, though a multi-purpose plane, was maintained in line with civil aviation regulations. Its last inspection, he said, was done on February 19, 2021, stressing that the plane was duly certified.

He stated, “Aircraft maintenance is not like you take your car to your mechanic and they remove one screw and they cannot remember where they kept it. Everything you do in aircraft maintenance is done by the book. When you see them (engineers) undertaking aircraft maintenance, you see a book this big. That book will say remove a particular screw and place it in a particular space; that’s all you have on one page. Do you know why? To ensure that nothing goes wrong.

“Unfortunately, no matter how careful you are; no matter how careful you try to be, no matter how competent the personnel involved are, once in a while, things go wrong. Three accidents in the last six months or so are not good; I get it.”

The former Air Fleet Safety Officer admitted that things could and do go wrong, and gave an assurance that investigations into the crashes would minimise the likelihood of a recurrence.

Adekunle expressed worry over the emotions generated by the air accidents, stressing that Asaniyi and Olufade were qualified and possessed the experience to fly any passenger, regardless of the calibre or rank. He warned against reactions that might destroy the confidence of other services in the Nigerian Air Force and the self-confidence of the air force.

But one crucial area the nation must not gloss over is the disclosure that the armed forces spent only nine per cent of total budgetary allocation on equipment. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, made this known at a public hearing on the Armed Forces Support Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill, organised by the House Committee on Defence in Abuja. He said record had shown that 91 per cent of allocation was expended on recurrent overhead, salaries and welfare.

This shocking revelation reinforces the need for a total audit of all military equipment and platforms. If transparently done, this will give the stark picture of the armed forces’ capability and provide answers to the niggling questions about their failure to end the Boko Haram counter-insurgency war, which has become a money pit

Original Article Published by PUNCH

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