Upgrade aviation rescue infrastructure, pilots urge FG

The umbrella body of pilots in Nigeria, the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, has called on the Federal Government to upgrade emergency response and rescue infrastructure in the country’s aviation sector.

This followed the recent crash of a Sikorsky SK76 helicopter with registration 5NBQG and operated by East Wind Aviation near Bonny Finima in the Atlantic Ocean in Rivers State,

The body also demanded that its members be enlisted among investigating panels as it is obtained in other parts of the globe.

The National President of NAAPE, Abednego Galadima, made this call during a one-day symposium with the theme “The Imperative of Unionisation in a Struggling Economy” in Abuja on Wednesday.

The ill-fated aircraft was en route from Port Harcourt Military Base to the NUIMANTAN oil rig when it ditched into the Atlantic Ocean with eight persons on board. Five bodies have since been retrieved from the accident site, while the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau is still searching for the remaining person.

Speaking while delivering his opening remarks at the event, Galadima affirmed that though the union was not attempting to pre-empt the report of the investigating panel into the cause of the crash, from what they gathered, infrastructure for emergency response and rescue was not optimal.

Speaking of the accident in which it lost it Vice President, helicopter wing and captain of the aircraft, Captain Yakubu Dukas, Abednigo said, “Without preempting the ongoing investigation, we want to urge the government to ensure that infrastructure for emergency rescue and response during accidents is top notch.

“From what we have gathered, it wasn’t optimal. We also want to call on the government to ensure that no stone is left unturned in investigating to see to the fact that every cause, both the remote and distant cause of this accident is identified, the aim is to forestall future occurrences.

“It is important that while we await what the NSIB will come with, we also want to call on the government as it is done in other climes that NAAPE be allowed to have a representative on the investigation panel so that we can participate in the investigation from the beginning to the end of the exercise.”