Danger In The Air: NCAA Fingers 3 Firms Over Aviation Oil Contamination

In a development that speaks of danger in the air, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has fingered three firms in connection with aviation oil contamination.

The aviation regulatory body said the three companies are culpable in the contamination of aviation commodity supplied to Max Air recently.

These details emerged in the course of a zoom meeting of the NCAA and aviation correspondents yesterday.

The NCAA Director-General, Captain Musa Nuhu who addressed journalists, said that not only was the concerned aircraft grounded immediately, its crew members were equally questioned the next day, in the bid to know exactly what happened.

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“Yes, it is true, the operations of Max Air B737 fleet has been suspended for a series of issues they have had over a couple of times”, he said, adding that the authority’s decision in suspending the airline was a proactive stance over matters of the sort, to avoid unfortunate incidents.

According to him, the culpable firms have been reported to appropriate quarters though he did not mention their names, adding that it was not the first time that the alleged companies had been involved in such.

He said they had previously been banned from supplying fuel to aircraft at Abuja airports.

“We have started investigation and we have identified three aviation fuel companies they took fuel from that day. We will mete out sanctions where necessary.

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“As you are all aware, several days ago, there was a video that went viral in regards to the issue they had on ground in Yola where supposedly, drops of water were removed from the aircraft.

“We are going to hold meeting with the regulatory commission in other to ensure compliance with standards,” he said.

He informed the journalists that NCAA, had a month ago, held a meeting with Max Air.

The meeting had to do with a landing incident in Abuja

Ostensibly to avoid danger in the air, Captain Nuhu said both the captain and the airline had a responsibility of checking the fuel before take-off, adding: “All these are in the manuals. It is the responsibility of the captain, NCAA staff can’t be at all fueling stations.

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“We don’t have enough staff to go into all stations, it is the responsibility of the airline.

“The aircraft involved was grounded immediately pending investigation, we acted immediately it happened, the crew were interrogated the following day,” he said