The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Centurion Securities, Group Captain John Ojikutu (retd), has criticised the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for its failure to name the pilot and airline it sanctioned for carrying out scheduled flights with expired medical certificate.
He said such a “cowardly act” by the apex civil aviation regulator indicated that it shirked its responsibility of providing oversight duties.
Ojikutu said the agency’s failure to disclose the errant pilot and carrier showed its lack of capacity to discharge its onerous responsibility as the policeman of civil aviation in the country.
The security expert said the agency’s action amounted to double standard as the suspension of the licence of the pilot without naming the employer or operator would not show deterrence.
He noted that as the NCAA did many years ago, it should have announced the penalty for the erring pilot and airline to serve as deterrent for violators of its regulations and laws.
Ojikutu said: “What about the operator? No sanction was handed down some carriers that erred in the past. Why the pilot alone? Why not the operator? Unnamed pilot, unnamed employer? NCAA is really working!”
The NCAA, on Sunday, revoked the Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence (ATPL) of a pilot for serious violation of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs).
The agency’s spokesman Sam Adurogboye said the revocation was the fallout of the pilot operating flights on non-scheduled operations while his medical certificate had expired.
The spokesman said investigation revealed that instead of the pilot revalidating his medical certificate, he conducted flight operations as the Pilot-in-Command (PIC), in flagrant disregard for the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations.
During the flight operations, the NCAA said the pilot repeatedly exercised the privileges of his Licence ATPL (A) when he was not qualified to exercise such privileges. (The Nation)
