By Suleiman Umaru
With the Friday, August 20, 2020, Crash, involving Quorum Aviation Limited, Bell 206, Helicopter with registration number, 5N BQW, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCCA, an agency of the Federal ministry of Aviation, appears to have beamed its search light onthe Aviation Companies operating in the country.
This is to ensure that their passenger aircrafts and Helicopters are in good working condition to forestall endangering the life of their passengers who patronise their services. The Quorum Helicopter which was said to have left the oil city of PortHarcourt, the Capital of Rivers state the said Friday, enroute to Lagos, with two Crew members and one passenger was said to have been properly checked before been given clearance at the airport to take off .
It was therefore not very surprising why the officials of the Aviation Company were shocked when news broke out that the Helicopter had crashed into a residential building in the Opebi area of Lagos, the nation’s Commercial hub center, which according to NCCA, officals is some minutes to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, local wing, Ikeja.
The question on the lips of most people is: How did the Helicopter which had reached Lagos without any noticeable mechanical problem on air suddenly develop K-leg, to have crashed, killing the two Crew members on board the Helicopter ?
. The only Passenger, on board the Helicopter, who was said to have been rescued from the accident by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency Authority, LASEMA, officials, and rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital was said to have died a few hours later because of the shock and the heavy injury sustained, thus bringing the number of death from the Helicopter crash to three.
Femi Osanyintolu Director General, LASEMA, reportedly said that no one on the ground of the scene of the crash was hurt. He was said to have mobilised a Team to remove the wreckage from the scene of the accident.
Although the Helicopter crash had occurred in Lagos, the officials of Quorum Aviation Limited, were said to have alerted the NCCA and the Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, about it. The agencies were said to have gone into investigation immediately to ascertain the cause of the crash and in order to forestall future occurrence.
Osanyintolu, the Director General ,LASEMA, who spoke on the death of two Crew members and the lone passenger on board the Helicopter, who was said to have died a few hours later at the Lagos Teaching Hospital, where he was receiving treatment, revealed that ‘’based on the Investigation that had been carried out by the relevant government agencies on the Helicopter crash, the mortalities were due to the impact of the crash.
Given the laws in the global Aviation industry whenever there is a plane crash, the first thing the Aviation Authorities and AIB officials , look out for is to locate the Black Box, which gives an insight to the cause of the accident. The AIB, officials, in their preliminary report, were said to have discovered that the Helicopter crashed ‘’due to’’ a big sound and thick smoke on the blade’’.
` Mrs. Adepeju Johnson, who was said to have narrated the incident to the Aviation and LASEMA officials, and neighbours, who trooped to the scene of the incident, disclosed that she was in her residence when she heard a loud noise but was not too sure what it was really. According to her, she initially thought it was about to rain but moments later she saw that the thick black smoke and the loud noise heard between her building and that of her daughter-in law was from a Helicopter crash. SShe had said that there was no fire.
Between the Friday , that the Quorum Helicopter crash occurred and now, people were said have been trooping to the location of the Accident at Opebi to see things themselves and also to Commiserate with the families and victims.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who was said to be in the West African country of Mali, on the said Friday, where the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, Heads of States and Governments were holding a virtual meeting ostensibly to resolve the country’s political crisis had Commiserated with the families and victims of the Helicopter crash, no sooner he had returned back to the country on the Friday.
The Katsina state born Nigerian President may not have made a policy Statement concerning the Crash and the victims as he had said ‘’the nation is awaiting for the report of the Investigation into the incident by the aviation Regulatory agencies’’.
Recall that in 2013, an Associated airlines plane which was bound for Akure, Capital of Ondo state, had crashed shortly after take-off, from MMIA, local wing, killing all the Crew members and the 20 Passengers on board. There was also a Dana plane Crash which the NCAA had , confirmed had headed from Abuja to Lagos, with 153 Passengers.
The plane was said to have crashed into a building and exploded in flames, at the Iju Ishaga, a neighbourhood, just about 4 Km, north from the edge of the MMIA, Ikeja, , according to NCCA, killing all the 153, passengers and the Crew members on board, including and 10 persons on the ground on a Sunday of the accident. The Dana plane crash was said to be the saddest in the country.
Note that there are several causes, according to aviation experts to Helicopter and plane crashes ranging from Pilot errors, which include loss of control of flight and flight into terrain, CFIT, Mechanical defects, Weather problems ,Air traffic Controller error to other causes including sabotage and poor runway maintenance. .
Many believe that aviation accidents could also be caused by birds. Take for instance, if a large bird collides a plane or Helicopter windscreen or and engine, it could cause damage that may contribute to crash.
In 2014, the Company, Boeing, had reported that aviation accidents are caused based on the phase of the flight: take off, climb, cruise, Decent Initial approach, final approach/landing. The North American country of the United States, US, Company had said that the most dangerous phase of every flight is landing, which may have been the problem of the Quorum Helicopter that crashed at Opebi in Lagos.
