The Minister for Aviation, Cecilia Abena Dapaa has revealed that, negligence on the part of the Crew of Starbow Airlines led to the crash of one of their aircrafts at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on the 25th of November, 2017.

Answering a question on the Floor of Parliament by the Member for Adaklu Constituency, Kwame Governs Gbodza on the “cause of the unfortunate crash of a starbow plane at the Kotoka International Airport on the 25th November 2017”, the Minister indicated that “failure on the part of the crew to execute the correct procedures in aborting the take-off” was one of the major causes of the incident.

She stated that “loss of situational awareness on the part of the cockpit crew also led to the accident.

Acvording to the Aviation Minister, immediately after the accident, a preliminary investigation team from the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority conducted investigations on that same day at the accident site to examine, inspect and collect data and documentations from the aircraft to enhance investigations.

She further added that, the Ministry thereafter, pursuant to sub-section 13.6 of the Civil Aviation Amendment Act, Act 2016 (Act 906) constituted and inaugurated a five member Committee on the 8th of December, 2017 to investigate the accident and make recommendations to prevent further occurrence, leading to the above findings.

Subsequent to this and giving the sequence of events leading to the accident, the Ministry has initiated steps in collaboration with stakeholders in the industry to make air transport safe and also curtail re-occurrence of such accidents in the future. The Minister revealed.

“The Ghana Airports Company Ltd is to review its Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs) and responses of all first respondents, whiles management of Air Traffic Control at the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority is to also ensure that all staff are familiar with all requirements of the accident and incident procedures which will include the authority to medical and toxicology tests”. She noted.

Starbow, she said, is to review its operational control, and ensure that it hires adequate qualified operational personnel.

Other measures include Starbow to arrange a re-training of its crew to include Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) and Aborted Take off Procedures.

Similarly, Starbow is to ensure that the Airworthiness Directive (AD) No: 2016-0256 is effected on all subsequent ATRs before they are added to their fleet.

Pilots are expected to exercise extra caution when taking off in adverse weather conditions. She added.

Story: Frederick E. Aggrey

 

Exclusively Newslinegh