Amaechi’s plane operated with fake documents –NCAA

sunnewsonline.com

The lingering crisis between the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Rivers State Government over an aircraft owned by the latter is far from over. NCAA has asserted that the aircraft, a Bombardier BD700-1A11 (Global Express) with registration number N565RS has been operating in the country with fake documents since January.

The regulatory body also stated that Caverton Helicopters, which was supposed to manage the aircraft under Part D of its Air Operator Certificate (AOC), had no dealing with the aircraft. The Rivers State Government, has, however, stated that Caverton Helicopters was managing the aircraft for the state, including its documentation and clearance to operate in the country as foreign registered aircraft. But, according to the NCAA, the fresh discoveries came after due diligence on the aircraft.

The body has also said it might hand over investigation on the operation of the aircraft to security agencies, noting that the aircraft could not have operated in Nigeria without being attached to a company that had AOC. The regulatory body, in a letter to the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah on April 29, said: “Caverton Helicopters was invited for a meeting today, the 29th of April, 2013 and they denied having any dealings with this aircraft in question.”

The letter, signed by its Acting Director General, Joyce Nkemakolam, also stated: “After the media reports of what happened in Akure airport, we undertook a due diligence of the status of the aircraft and to our amazement found that the aircraft has been operating into and out of Nigeria on ad hoc since January 2013. The investigation revealed that the only name on the passenger manifest for all the flight clearance is Rotimi Amaechi, which implies that other passengers were illegally on board.”

In a related development, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has denied that the Bombadier BD 700-1A11 (Global Express) belonging to the Rivers State Government was grounded at the Akure Airport on Friday, April, 26 evening for political reasons. In a statement signed by the General Manager, Corporate Communications, Yakubu Dati, the agency explained: “We maintain that the aircraft’s pilot erred by not filing mandatory documents, that is the manifesto as and when due, at an airport that was not certified for night flight operations.

“Whenever an aircraft stays beyond 6.00pm, authorisation must be got from the appropriate authorities before such aircraft is cleared for take-off, hence the slight delay in the departure of the aircraft. As at Friday (April 26), the parent company (BUT) had not regularised its status to continue to fly in the Nigeria airspace, neither has it been given a flight operation clearance certificate.”