Ten days after a light aircraft belonging to Wings Aviation with three crew members onboard disappeared without a trace, fears of imminent sack has engulfed senior officials of key aviation agencies, who are currently trading blames for their failure to find the plane.
The Beechcraft 1900D was on a flight from Lagos to Bebi airstrip near the Obudu Ranch Resort in Cross River State on March 15 when it disappeared 10 minutes to landing.
The National Association of Air Traffic Engineers, which represents air traffic controllers, said on Monday that the missing aircraft was duly handed over to the Obudu airstrip radio operator before it was reported missing from the airspace.
The President of NAAE, Mr. Ifeanyi Nwankwo, told reporters at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja on Monday that Enugu was the last airport that had contact with the missing aircraft.
Describing the air route, he said, �The aircraft used NAMA (Nigerian Airspace Management Agency) radar up till 50 nautical miles after leaving Lagos, then used the SATCOM communication system to hand over from Lagos to Port Harcourt, and Enugu then took over from Port Harcourt.�
�Enugu Area Control gave the pilot clearance to descend after which he got contact with the radio operator in Obudu. Obudu airstrip is not an airport; it is not charted, so it is like whoever is flying to that airstrip has responsibility for whatever happens.
�At that point, he (the pilot) reported two-way contact with Obudu, NAMA�s business comes to an end, NAMA had no responsibility any longer.�
He said that it was the duty of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to certify airports, aerodromes and airstrips before NAMA could move into such places.
He added that the jungle terrain and landscape of Obudu coupled with the inadequate equipment of the National Emergency Management Agency might have been responsible for the non-discovery of the aircraft.
He stressed that the only sure way of locating the aircraft would have been the signals emitted by the emergency locator transmitter on the aircraft if it was functional at the time of crash.
Nwankwo, however, advised the government not to jump into conclusions in sacking aviation parastatal chiefs, but should first find out which agency was responsible for the failure to locate the missing aircraft or that failed to do their jobs.