BY ANTHONY AWUNOR |
Key stakeholders in the nation’s aviation industry over the weekend blamed human error for over 70 per cent of air accidents.
The stakeholders were brainstorming at a conference organised by the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) in collaboration with Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria (AIB-N) tagged, “Preventing Human Factors In Air Accident Investigation” which took place in Ikeja, Lagos.
In his opening speech, commissioner/CEO of AIB-N, Engr. Akin Olateru, confirmed that aircraft accidents are dominated by human factor failure.
Engr Olateru, in his presentation, revealed that, despite a positive development in the trend of accidents recorded since the beginning of the 21st century, the number of air accidents is still unsatisfactory.
He, therefore, strongly advised that, it is of paramount importance to do everything that would contribute to substantial reduction of the human factor failure in air transportation.
Going forward, Olateru stated that for a substantial progress in air transportation safety to be achieved, it is necessary to focus on the most frequently occurring air accidents, such as, the CFIT and runway excursions and overruns and loss of control of the aircraft.
“It is also important to focus on the phases of flight especially at its beginning (takeoff) and end (landing). When assessing the development in accidents, it follows that despite the enormous progress made in the field of air transportation, its safety fail to develop to satisfaction, with causes identified as incomprehensive approaches to learning and appreciating the human factor,” Olateru added.
Also speaking at the occasion, director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Musa Nuhu stated that every aviation accident is a global tragedy.
In his keynote address, Capt Nuhu urged the authorities to be determined to unravel the probable causes, contributory factors and develop appropriate Safety Recommendations that are based on safety risk assessments and considerable cost-effectiveness through the accident investigative authorities.
According to Capt Nuhu the regulatory authorities must also enforce their implementation by certified entities and licensed personnel to prevent reoccurrence and improve safety records.
Reviewing the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Safety Report of 2020, the DG recounted that in 2019, globally there were a total of 114 aviation accidents, six of which were fatal with 239 fatalities.
Capt Nuhu equally informed that this 2019 global accident rate of 2.9 accidents per million departures is the highest in the previous five years and represents an increase of 12 per cent from the year 2018 figure.
He said, “The same report shows that the African Indian Ocean (AFI) Region, to which Nigeria belongs recorded an accident rate of 2.8 accidents per million departures, though with one of the least estimated departures of One Million Four Hundred and Forty Thousand, Seven Hundred and One departures (1,440, 701), representing only 3.8% share of total global traffic.”
the highest accidents rates per region globally.”
“It is common knowledge, widely propagated within the industry that at least 70 per cent of aviation accidents are contributed to Human Factors. However, a review of the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST)/ICAO Common Taxonomy Team (CICTT) taxonomy for occurrence categories shows that there is no category of these occurrences ascribed to “Human Factors”, Nuhu added.
He equally observed that Human Factors in aviation occurrences is therefore most times seen as the negative consequence of the liveware dimension in this interactive ecosystem.
In his opening remark, LAAC chairman, Olusegun Koiki who commended the management of AIB for collaborating with the league to create a forum for discussion of this germane issue in the global aviation industry.
Koiki who pointed out that the topnotch conference emanated from Engr. Akin Olateru, the commissioner/chief executive of AIB, said human factor issues, specifically human errors, contribute more to aircraft incidents and accidents than any other single factor.
