COMPLIANCE OR GET PENALISED
By Lateef Lawal,Lagos
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA) organized a three-day workshop on the New Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations(NCARs) 2009 which began in Lagos today. It was specifically targeted at all airline operators, parastatals in the industry and other stakeholders to get them to understand the rational behind the revised NCARs such as the general policies, procedures and definitions of aspects of the new regulations.
The new regulations covers among others-General Licensing Requirements, ATC License, Flight Crew Licensing, Aero Medical, Cabin Crew Licensing, Approved Training Organisations(ATOs),Aircraft Registration and Marking, Approved Maintenance Organisation(AMO),Operations and Air Operator Certification and Administration among others.
The Director General of NCAA, Dr Harold Demuren after the opening session early today spoke with aviation journalists on the workshop and other industry issues. Below is the excerpt of the interview:
What informed the workshop?
Aviation is changing everyday and the requirements for safety have become paramount to all of us. As we move higher to achieve our safety standard and make sure we can have a safe operation, we need an enduring safety regulations.
This safety regulation, is asking for 100 percent compliance. Things have changed in the industry. In the last two years now, you find out that we have not actually failed.
That is the way to do it and that is the way we are going to meet up. We will be looking at various regulations. You must train your people do maintenance.
Expectation at the end of the workshop At the end of this conference, the entire industry will be aware exactly what the new regulations are as regards compliance and enforcement.
If there is anything like violation, there is going to be a very strict penalty. The consequences are very . You may get your licenses suspended, withdrawn or revoked. If we are sure that an airline is no longer in a position to carry out a safe operation, we will revoke the AOC of that airline.
The people are very aware of this and they are doing everything to make sure they comply while airlines that are grounded or suspend operations are doing their best to make sure they come back.
However Arik’s Debt to NCAA is over N1.1BillionWe have held two meetings with their management already and they raised certain questions over billings.We are doing something about it.
Bellview and Afrijet’s AOC
Let me clarify this issue. Afrijet and Bellview AOC’s were not revoked. They have shown interest to start operations and they are talking to us.
They stopped operations and their AOC’s were not revoked. We are looking into that.Our officials are looking into their papers including their finances.
They must comply before they can come back. They must comply with the requirements.
Still On the Conference
This is a safety conference. It is not organized because of what happened in Nigeria. We ought to have done it before the incident of December. It was postponed by ICAO.
Requirements by aviation agencies
There is something about meeting regulatory requirements. There are certain minimum requirements that you must meet.
We bring a lot of people with experience from the industry to come and implement what they have. They are only temporary staff and it does not affect the workers promotion. They are elderly people and they will be there for a while, it is a short time measure.
Nigeria’s pursuit of attaining CAT 1
We are very well. We are very hopeful. Notwithstanding what has happened(Attempted bombing of a Northwest aircraft in Detroit,US by a Nigerian, Abdulmuttalab), we have already done most of the work. Virtually finished before that incident occurred. So we are on course. We just have to tidy up things.
On screening machine
FAAN is doing very well to install those screening machines. The latest is that FAAN is being placed on a priority list. Many nations have ordered but Nigeria is on priority list. We are proud that.
No comments:
Post a Comment