Why NCAA Suspended Bristow Helicopters
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA has issued and indefinite suspension of the operation of Sikorsky S-76C++ a type of helicopter used by Bristow Helicopters Limited. The decision according to Muktar Usman, director general, NCAA, is as a result of the successive mishaps of Bristow Helicopters in the country. A helicopter of the same type belonging to Bristow crashed on Wednesday while flying from Port Harcourt to Lagos. All the nine passengers and the two crewmembers were rescued. The new crash happened six months after a 5N-BGD Bristow Sikorsky S-76C helicopter crashed at the Oworonsoki area of Lagos, killing six of the twelve persons on board.
The NCAA director said the suspension will enable the authority to carry out a full-scale audit of Bristow’s operations with particular emphasis on its Sikorsky S-76C++ type.
Usman added that the regulatory body had weighed all the variables and considered it expedient to suspend the airline operations expressing that it was a global standard practice.
Federal Aviation Administration FAA had on September 14, 2015, issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directives, EAD to owners and operators of Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation model S-76A, S-76B, S-76C and S-76D helicopters. The EAD was issued after Sikorsky took an interim safety action and performed a onetime inspection of all ‘S’-model helicopters equipped with control pushrod assembly.
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