The Accident Investigation Bureau-Nigeria (AIB-Nigeria) said it has suspended further investigation of Nigeria Air Force (NAF) aircraft crash which occurred on May 21,last year.
The accidents involved Max Air, Azman Air and Nigeria Police aircraft.
Besides,the bureau,Wednesday,released three final aircraft accident reports, which happened between October 3, 2018 and September 9, 2019.
Engr. Akin Olateru, the Commissioner, AIB-N, in a question and answer session at the release of the three reports, regretted that since the agency submitted its interim report on the crash involving Lt.-Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, the former Chief of Army Staff in Kaduna State on September 21, 2021, the bureau was unable to continue with the investigation into the crash.
He explained that the accident was a military one, which doesn’t compel AIB-N to make the outcome of its investigation public.
He added that the accident occurred in a civil airport – Kaduna International Airport and AI-N was invited to conduct investigation to unravel the cause of the crash.
He explained that it is in the purview of the NAF to make the report public, but lamented that it had not been given most of the information it required to continue with the investigation to the final stage.
He said: “We are waiting for NAF to make the report of AIB-N on the accident public. We are unable to continue with the investigation to the final stage because we have not been given most information that we required.
“We submitted the report in 2021 within the 60 days of the accident and this was in line with the Annex 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). We can progress with the report, but we have not been given all we need to continue.”
AIB had on September 21, 2021 submitted its interim report on the probable cause of the accident.
Attahiru, 54, and 10 others including aides and crew died when the aircraft, Nigerian Air Force King Air-350 they were travelling in crashed in the vicinity of Kaduna Airport on May 21, 2021.
The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao had directed that a joint investigative body consisting of experienced NAF safety officers and the AIB be constituted to investigate the circumstances surrounding the air crash.
A statement by AIB-N, had said that the interim report was submitted to NAF by Olateru, to Air Marshal Amao, at his office at NAF Headquarters, Abuja.
The report hinted that the submitted report was organised into three sections; the information obtained in the course of the investigation; analysis of data collected in view of the Board’s Terms of Reference; and the conclusion, which covers the initial findings and immediate recommendations.
The statement further emphasized that the final report would contain the flight data recorder readout, the reviewed operator’s and service provider’s standard operating procedures as well as other detailed analysis.