…Releases August 18, 2020 letter Of Request To NCA
Barely few hours after Accident Investigation Bureau(AIB),Nigeria released it preliminary Reports on the Quorum Aviation helicopter that crashed at Opebi Area, Lagos on August 28, 2020, Quorum Aviation has released letter dated August 18, 2020, it wrote the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA)requesting exemption.
The decision by the rotary wing entity to release the letter followed AIB, Nigeria’s Preliminary Report which stated that, “The Pilot’s last Proficiency Check was valid till 24th August 2020. There was no evidence to show that an application for the exemption provided by the AOL DG018/20 had been submitted to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.”
The letter that was signed by the Managing Director and Accountable Manager, Quorum Aviation, Abiola Lawal, revealed that indicated that the helicopter company seven days to the expiration of the pilot’s proficiency, wrote a letter to the Director General, NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, requesting the extension and exemption.
The letter with the heading, “Request for the extension of our pilot’s recency: our ref: NCAA/DOT/GEN012/20/002. Exemption document for pilot recency issued on June 18, 2020 and was accompanied with various documents.
The Quorum reads, “Given the challenges of the Covid-19 in organizing additional crew travel and training, we hereby wish to request for the exemption/extension of our pilots Captain Chika Prudence Ernest License ATPL(H) 6245 under the above exemption granted by the DG in the above reference circular.”
“His proficiency expires on the 24 of August 2020 and his comprehensive medical are valid until the 6th of August 2023.”
‘Captain Prudence is a well experienced Helicopter pilot and experienced PIC on the Bell 206 and we kindly appreciate if this application can be promptly approved to continue operations.
” We are hopeful subsequently that things would have settled down post COVID for early next year travel for future proficiencies when exemption validity expires 31st December 2020 per the circular”.
AIB Preliminary Report had revealed that the that there was no evidence that the pilot of the ill-fated helicopter applied for exemption provided by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s(NCAA’s) All Operators’ Letter(AOL) DG020/20 or was there evidence of an application for the exemption provided by the AOL DG018/20 for proficiency check.
“The Pilot’s last Proficiency Check was valid till 24th August 2020. There was no evidence to show that an application for the exemption provided by the AOL DG018/20 had been submitted to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,” the report said.
