The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation has pledged to support the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) push for its plans to involve first responders’ to aircraft accidents.
The first responders included the Nigeria Police, Air Force, Navy, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and others.
Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Nnolim Nnaji, gave the assurance during the committee oversight function on the AIB facility in Lagos on Friday.
The committee visited AIB’s Control and Command Centre where the investigators monitor flights real-time to enable them track aircraft in case something happens and got a feel of what it actually does.
Nnaji said the support would form a synergy with the investigators so when an accident happens evidence would not be compromised.
He also also commended the strides the AIB had taken despite the funding deficit that the agency experience.
Nnaji who listened to some challenges the investigators go through saw reason with the commissioner who had given logical instances where an MoU signed would make collaboration with relevant agencies much more seamless.
Speaking earlier, AIB commissioner, Mr Akin Olateru explained that ig had tried to get numerous agencies to sign Memorandums of Understanding(MoU) that would make the job less cumbersome and also provide services for organisation.
Olateru said this was to enable responders to enable them secure crash sites and identify evidence was just as important as collaboration at incident sites.
“We have tried to get some of these agency to sign MoUs, the reason is sometimes accidents can happen in the deep sea and the Nigeria Navy has experienced divers to go there and retrieve wreckage and other important stuff.
“Even the training we hold for the Nigeria Civil Defense Corp, Nigeria Police, Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) are things we need backing to institutionalise in their ab initio training.
“So they can know how to cordon off accident sites and secure vital evidence like the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder.
“Most of them do not even know what it looks like, because it is called a black box they go out looking for the block box, which is actually yellow.
“Even sad that during some accidents some operators have catered away with the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Corpit Voice Recorder (CVR)
“So you do not know what happens to their aircraft. In truth training needs to be embedded in these first responders’ curriculum and AIB cannot be doing one-off trainings.
The AIB commissioner also sought the aid of the lawmakers to relocate the N600 million metallurgical science laboratory located in Abuja.
He said this was no longer in use eight years after it was built to cater for critical analysis of aeroplanes during crashes.
Olateru told the committee that the facility had not been put to use because of the Abuja-Kaduna rail line that passed through the laboratory, describing it as AIB’s weakest link.
He explained the uses of the metallurgical lab, stating that the bureau had examined metals to determine the structure of a damaged part or parts of aircraft to determine cause or causes.
