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Crash report: Bellview writes FG, US government

By BusinessNews Staff on February 23, 2015

Bellview Airlines has formally written to the Federal Government of Nigeria and the United States Government, expressing its disagreement with the crash report on the airline released by the Accident Investigation Bureau on Saturday.

The investigation of Bellview’s Boeing 737 plane crash that killed 117 people in Lisa village, Ogun State on October 22, 2005, was jointly conducted by the AIB and experts from the US National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing Company, and Pratt and Whitney Company.

Bellview had on Sunday alleged that AIB “unilaterally doctored” the report by allowing “internal politics” to affect the version it later released to the public.

The AIB, in the report, said the unfortunate crash could be linked to the airline’s defective plane and incompetent crew.

However, Bellview on Sunday alleged that the AIB report had been doctored; pointing out that the released report was different from the copy the agency had earlier given to the airline.

On Thursday, Bellview wrote a letter of protest to the AIB, a copy of which was also sent to the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah; and the Managing Director, NTSB, Mr. David Mayer.

Bellview, in the letter, demanded that the “original final report” be reinstated and released to the public.

The letter, which was signed by the General Manager, Bellview, Mr. Rasheed Yusuff, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent, was also sent to the Senate, House of Representatives, National Security Adviser, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the International Civil Aviation Organisation, Dr. Olumuyiwa Aliu.

The letter alleged several discrepancies in the report and the disparity in the original final draft report of 2009.

The letter read in part, “The first report was circulated in 2009 but we did not reach agreement with the conclusion, hence our comments should have been appended as provided above. The state of operator of the aircraft, Nigeria, and state of design and manufacture of the aircraft, the United States, conducted this investigation jointly. It then implied that the investigators had enough time to gather all inputs before the draft final report was circulated in 2009.

“And when investigation is reopened, there must be a fundamental basis that must be shared with the operator to demonstrate that the investigation remain open and transparent. AIB apparently unilaterally amended the draft final report without appending the basis and in clear violation of Article 6.3 of ICAO annex 13 and the 2006 Civil Aviation Act, thus rendering the report invalid.”

[Punch]

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