Accident bureau releases preliminary reports on Air Peace incidents

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has released the preliminary reports on serious incidents involving three Air Peace aircrafts.

It was reported that the Commissioner for AIB, Mr Akin Olateru confirmed the development to newsmen on Thursday in Lagos.

Olateru said the reports released included the serious incident involving Air Peace Limited B737-300 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BUK at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on May 15.

He said also released was the report on the serious incident involving the airline’s B737-500 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BRN at Port Harcourt International Airport on June 22.

He added that the bureau released the report on the serious incident involving Air Peace Limited B737-300 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BQO at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on July 23.

He said: “The preliminary reports are not the final reports as they contain details of the initial facts, discussions and findings surrounding the occurrences.

“This include information gathered from witness statements, flight recorders, Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS) Data, Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) data, and preliminary inspection of the accident sites and the wreckages.

“Therefore, the investigations on these serious incidents are still ongoing and final reports on these occurrences will be released at the conclusion of these investigations.”

A source told our reporter that part of the report contained the following observations.

“For the May 15 incident: According to the Initial Findings of preliminary report of this serious incident, the flight crew were certified and qualified to conduct the flight in accordance with applicable regulations and the aircraft landed on runway 18R at 19:34 hrs.

“The aircraft was taxied to the apron and the passengers disembarked normally.

“However, AIB was notified three weeks after the occurrence via a phone call by a passenger that was on the incident flight and a post-incident inspection of the aircraft showed substantial damage to the aircraft structure and its No. 2 engine cowling.

“Plus, the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) recording of the occurrence was overwritten.

“There is nothing concrete yet because it is only a preliminary report.”