A disaster forewarned: I’m looking for my cousin and his wife- Capt Tito

Capt. Tito Omaghomi

WHEN former Nigeria Airways pilot, Capt. Tito Omaghomi, told senior editorial staff of the Vanguard two weeks ago that another disaster was looming in the aviation industry as operators have started cutting corners and neglecting aircraft maintenance, the instant prayer on the lips of those present was: “May God save us.”

The fear on the faces of the 22 persons in the Editorial Conference Room, who are regular air travellers was palpable.

In a two-page interview published on May 21 following his visit toVanguard, Omaghomi warned that operators were thinning out, checks on aircraft were becoming irregular and these might lead to crashes soon if the needful was not done.

Cutting corners

His words: “Talking about what is going on today, I was the one who coined the word “cutting corners” in the aviation industry during our interaction with the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in Abuja when Nigerian planes were falling off the skies. I predicted that planes will continue to fall as long as people were cutting corners in the aviation industry.

“Today, you can quote me anywhere, operators are becoming very few, we know that pilots are given instructions, ‘if you have a snag in an aeroplane, do not put it on your technical logbook, write it on a piece of paper, when you land, give it to the engineer.’ What it means is that if the engineer is able to fix your snag, good; if he is unable to fix your snag, the aeroplane will go into service because there will be no evidence in the check log. As you know, the check log is the book anybody will go to…’No engineer that knows his onions will sign an aircraft off that this aircraft has an hydraulic leak, I have repaired it, it is good to go. No engineer will put his hand in such a check log, so to cut another way of passing them, write it on a piece of paper, give it to the engineer, this we have discovered. I have raised this alarm, we are becoming very cautious, the operators are becoming very cautious, and this is why we are having fewer accidents now.”

Two weeks after this prophetic warning, although the cause of the accidents have not been disclosed, the caution of operators and stakeholders seems to have failed, yesterday, a black day as it were. The nation recorded two air crashes: An Allied Airplane Boeing 727 cargo plane crashed in Accra killing 10 persons after colliding with a van; and a Dana passenger aircraft with 153 passengers in its bowels crashed in Iju, Lagos killing about 142 persons as of press time.

Speaking on the incidents, yesterday, Capt Omaghoni said he was on the site of the crash looking for his cousin, Mr. Awani and the wife, who were on the Dana flight. “If I must tell, I came in from Abuja this morning. The whole of Rewane Dynasty were in Abuja for the marriage of my sister, who got married to Mr Okuku. We are looking for two members of our family, who were in that aircraft. I am at the site of the crash. I am doing an independent investigation.”