THE Federal Government has directed an immediate investigation into the use of an unauthorized equipment ( a ladder) by Aero Contractors Airlines to disembark passengers at the conclusion of a charter flight to Bauchi over the weekend, the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika has said .
Most passengers who flew on the charter flight had raised an alarm bothering on safety with the decision of the airline to use a ladder for the passengers to come out from a Boeing 737 aircraft operated that day (Saturday December 19, 2015) at the Bauchi airport.
In a statement yesterday, the minister frowned at the act noting “it is inconsistent with Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (NCARs) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS). “
“The investigation will determine the immediate and remote causes of the incident with a view to developing and implementing measures that will prevent a reoccurrence of the unsafe and unacceptable procedure that exposed
passengers to high risk of serious injury,” the statement said.
“If the airline is found culpable, the full weight of sanctions within extant laws and regulations would be applied on it,” it added. .
Sirika further states that the aviation ministry will not shriek in its responsibility to ensure a safe and secure air transport services which he views as sacrosant.
It would be recalled that last Saturday’s incident created chaos as well as humour as passengers were made to use a ladder to disembark on a special charter flight operated by Aero from Abuja to Bauchi airport. Problems started when the aircraft touched down and it was found out that the ground handling equipment had problems and could not deploy the conventional air stairs to bring down passengers. Aero in a statement lamented the embarrassment the problems had caused passengers and the risk it also possed attributing the problem to the management of the airport.
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