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The encounter was pretty fortuitous. I had gone to a have lunch at a restaurant somewhere in Ikeja GRA, and was busy doing justice to the chilled bottle of Gulder beer, while waiting for my food to be served, when the gentleman who was addressed by the friend who had accompanied him as ‘captain’ walked into the restaurant and sat right next to me.

There was a certain air of professionalism and savoir-faire about him and soon, the journalist in me- ever curious kicked in. I wanted to initiate some conversation with him- just friendly conversation. “Are you in the armed forces, since you were addressed as ‘captain’? I had asked, trying to break the ice, Displaying a willingness to also engage me, he had answered in the negative “I am an airline captain. I fly planes” he had intoned, and considering the tragedy that had occurred last week, with the crash of The Associated Airline that was conveying the corpse of the late Ondo state Governor-Dr. Olusegun Agagu to Akure, I felt a strong push to ask the captain some pertinent questions about the state of aviation given his experience as a captain and an aviator of more than 30 years as he had told me.

As most of the readers of this column would have known, I am very particular and concerned about safety and how friendly our skies are for air travel, having last year, to the glory of God, narrowly missed the Dana Air that crashed on June, 3, and my earlier experience aboard a British Airways flight from JFK, New York, to Heathrow Airport, London, in 2005 that caught fire upon take-off, but managed to make an emergency landing that was truly miraculous.

The captain was surprisingly candid and answered all my questions without hesitation. “The state of our aviation” he had told me point-blank, “is not too encouraging. We take a lot of things for granted with safety. We cut corners on things that demand strict compliance with what obtains elsewhere. For instance, there are some aircraft parts that may have ‘timed-out’ and need to be replaced with newer versions. We sometimes allow those parts to remain because they are still functional and the newer ones are too expensive. That should not be. The manufacturers of those aircrafts were conscious of the fact that at certain point, those parts need to be changed. I have seen maintenance being carried out on aircrafts in the open space as opposed to being done in hangers- that should not be. We skirt around vital issues of safety, and that again, should not be.”

I asked the captain if he had ever been pressured by his employers to fly an aircraft that he knew was not completely airworthy, but had to be ‘managed’ to the next destination. He looked at me for almost a minute and in a very concerned tone said “yes, I have” and added rather reassuringly that “that has stopped over the years and as we speak, I will not jeopardize the safety of my passengers whose lives have been entrusted under my care.”

One area the captain harped on ceaselessly was the emotional and psychological state of our pilots and how that is very critical to the safety of passengers. He went ahead to illustrate that with a personal experience. “When I used to fly with one of the airlines (name withheld) and it was run by white guys, I remember coming to work one day and did not exhibit my normal exuberant self. The MD had invited me to his office and asked what the matter was, and I told him the truth that I had a little issue with my wife that morning at home and that I was ok. He looked me straight in the eye and said I should go home and resolve the issue and return to work in three days. In his considered opinion, I was not in the right emotional/ psychological state of mine to fly and the safety of the passengers was of utmost concern to him.

How many of our operators today pay such attention to the emotional state of our pilots? I am aware of the fact that some pilots in the employ of some our airlines are owed salaries for months. How do you expect a pilot who is struggling to pay his bills and meet some basic financial obligations to his family to be in the right frame of mind to fly? Someone once told me that airline business is not supposed to be run by black people, since we seem not to pay attention to critical issues in the industry. I refuse to buy into that notion, but I must confess certain things I have seen in the industry almost has forced me to think the guy may have been right. Look at even the simple issue of parking space at our airports. Do you know that pilots don’t have parking slots at airports allocated to them, as is the case elsewhere? A pilot who is scheduled to fly say at 8 am, may have already been stressed by the time he mounts the cockpit, having already circled around for minutes, looking for parking space for his car- that is if he does not have a driver. Such minor thing can impact negatively on the pilot’s state of mind.”

When asked how safe it is to fly within the Nigerian airspace, the captain was brutally frank “It is relatively safe, I must say. But you should fly those airlines that have been audited by foreign technical partners. Any airline that you see some expatriates fly with regularly, tells you that their employers and their embassies must have been satisfied with the auditing that those airline technical partners had carried out, because those partners will not compromise safety, neither will they cut corners unnecessarily. “

As the captain made his exit, I did an analysis on what he had just told me, and I became very afraid and angry. Why should safety in air be compromised based on the need to make profit? Why would an operator willingly put an aircraft up in the sky that he knows is not airworthy? According to sources, one of the airlines whose operational license was suspended almost had a mishap because an engine packed up on a flight from Port-Harcourt to Lagos, but thank God, the second engine was able to power the plane to landing.

I hope and pray that the regulatory agencies of the industry will put the safety of passengers first over and above all other considerations. Nigerian is adopting the best practices in so many aspects of our globalized space, and these are very heartening. We must extend same to our critical sector of aviation. Air travel is considered the safest means of transportation; it should not be a scary proposition in Nigeria.

[Source: This Day Live]

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Why are black people like these?

Our system really needs proper upgrading 2 meet up with standard! If not we have not heard d last of plane crash in nigeria! Our leaders incharge shud sincerely rise up 2 d ocassion!

"Airline business is not supposed to be run by black people"... Black people and the nonchalant attitudes to life-threatening issues.

That statement is an insult sha.
Racist statement.

RIP to the dead. This country sef.

Hmmmm, black man can do better than the white but d manin issue is that we (black) need some positive orientation to achieve our optimal best.

Amin.

Hmm, corruption everywhere, both on the land, air n sea.. We give upp

I think i agree with him. With the shocking revelation that came out from the black box analysis, shows clearly the crashes we ve had in d past yrs have been our fault. Lack of professionalism and strict adherence to protocols. That "i too know syndrome" and "everything is in Gods hands attitude" is what has made our airlines flying coffins. The white men should take over and train our black brothers.
*my two cents*

One day agbero will tell us y danfo drivers er always on 6bottles b4 takeoff

This is not good news at all. No more local flights for me.

As much as I agree to an extent with everything the Captain said, I still think that as blacks, we are the ones selling ourselves short by making derogatory comments like 'white people should run this and run that'.
The problem is not that we are not capable of adherence to guidelines, rather it's that there are no stringent complications and bodies to implement them when something does go wrong.
Then again, there is the 'let me help my brother mentality' that abound in Nigeria, which is like our biggest developmental problem because this has only led to appointment of unqualified quacks in aviation control and monitoring masquerading themselves as experts and professionals.

It's not white people we need, it's an overhaul of the political structure that supports 'this na my person mentality'.

ORG. am just nearly 3rd to comment. o halaluja to ur name glorious God. tell seun to send my cash instanta.

Rubbish! Inferiority complex at its peak!!, why not say they should take over the country again. Instead of proposing an overhaul of the industry and encourage more training schools and co he iz busy spewing rubbish

God save us from this wicked people

Black people with black behaviour...SMH

half back pilots......abegi when wil ASUU call this their usuall holidays...i mean strike?

half bake pilots......abegi when wil ASUU call this their usuall holidays...i mean strike?

Well, since the gist na bear parlor own, anything goes!

Quite a revealing article. While I agree with the point raised on cutting corners and lack of proper maintenance, i however disagree with the notion that the whites run it better. Plane crash occurs everywhere and most times due to human errors.

In every sector, human error has been seen to be the leading cause of problem of which we all are directly or indirectly involved.

Our aviation sector seem to be in a f**ked up state,what can the masses do?...When govt officials have their own well "maintained" jets...Politics is found everywhere in naija even in the aviation sector...SMH

This is what we are talking about, job security. Even some pilots find it extremely hard to turndown risky flights, I mean, flying a problematic aircrafts, just to keep their job.

Oh God, save your people from bad leadership and monstrous capitalists.

hhehhshbhheuywgwhebdqgegchsjwgjuruehheeuuedjdhuehrjriuwhdhhwgyeg

I strongly disagree with the poster...what makes the white people better than us ?the way they think ..they inculcate the superiority/leadership thinking into their brains right from their childhood years plus good and encouraging working environment.the solution lies in us ...We should put things right and the industry should be infiltrated with good thinking professionals who are ready to work weather white or black..i really don't care ..all i care about is professionalism should be at work in aviation industry to avert future calamities in d industry..God bless !!!

Only in Nigeria a lot of avoidable mishaps, mistakes and disasters are treated as god's act (Stella, O. 2013). When we put a square peg in a round hole due to corruptions and put lives of innocent Nigerians at the mercy of unprofessional and callous minded individuals who are only in service to feather their own nests. Need we expect anything better?

Sometimes, I wonder how Nigeria would become a changed or better country if things remain stagnant just the way they are and teachings of following right/due processes are not fully preached and strictly practiced in all sectors of our nation.

Word

90% of the pilots that fly d choppers of one of these International Oil companies are whites. They dnt joke with safety. If a pilot tells u he is nt flying u cant force him because its safety first or nt at all. They believe there is always time to do it right.

Okworigeorge: hhehhshbhheuywgwhebdqgegchsjwgjuruehheeuuedjdhuehrjriuwhdhhwgyeg

What happened to your keyboard/keypad?

This is not a matter of race (black or white), it is a Nigerian issue/thing. We r just like dat, always tryin to maximize profit (make quick money) at d expense of human life. We dnt hav value for human life in nigeria at all.

ok

Saying that white people should manage things for us is a clear admission that blacks are monkeys. So why get upset when you are called monkeys?

what a shameful statement.