JULY 8TH, 2015

The reported “collision” between an Emirate airline aircraft and a parked Harka Airline aircraft on the taxiway at MMA in the night of Monday 6th July, 2015 brought into fore the challenges associated with the crash landing of a cargo aircraft that was cleared to land on a closed runway at MMA some few years ago which was very embarrassing and costly to the nation.

The question we should be asking the responsible safety authorities of MMA and NCAA are:

  1. What is the minimum safety standards or distance allowed at MMA for any aircraft to be parked close to the runway, taxiway, and/or the apron shoulders or Clear Areas MMA GAT etc, taking into consideration the extended swing span of some modern aircrafts at
  2. When last had there been any field inspection at MMA to ensure that these minimum standards, maintenance, regulation are enforced and to ensure that there are no obstructions to air traffic movement on the taxiways/runways and at their shoulders/Clear Areas?
  3. How often do international aircrafts do taxis on the left taxiways parallel to R/W 19L?
  4. Who cleared Emirate to use the right parallel taxiway R/W 19L?
  5. Who is responsible for airfield inspection and apron control at GAT?
  6. Do we have adequate taxiway lightings and apron lightings at MMA and GAT Apron?
  7. How long has the Harka aircraft been parked at that position?
    The above are critical questions for NCAA, NAMA and FAAN in the course of their investigation of this incident.

It would be necessary to revisit the safety recommendations of a similar incident cited above towards ensuring that these types of incidents are avoided in the future.

 

JOHN O. OJIKUTU

GROUP CAPTAIN (RTD)

SECETARY GENERAL