Rudolf Gaiseb
Following a plane crash in Windhoek last week, the Namibian aviation industry has come under serious scrutiny, particularly the oversight role played by the Namibia Civil Aviation Authority.
At the heart of the brouhaha are questions relating to the modus operandi of Westair Aviation, whose three members died in a fatal plane crash.
Yesterday, another aircraft incident involving a gyrocopter occurred at the Eros Airport. The pilot, who was the only person aboard, escaped unscathed.
However, responding to questions this week, the executive director of the Namibia Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Toska Sem, maintained that Westair’s operations were beyond reproach.
“Let me assure you that Westair Aviation is fully certified in terms of the Namibian Civil Aviation Regulations, and audited regularly. All the Westair crew are licensed in terms of the Namibia Civil Aviation Regulations, and complete all the regular proficiency checks required by said regulations,” she said.
The questions also centred around the licensing and importation of various aircrafts, particularly the Cessna aircraft, as well as the pilot licensing and assessment procedures of Westair Aviation, and whether the NCAA’s checks and balances were watertight.
Sem said Cessna aircrafts are not only imported from the United States of America, but also from any International Civil Aviation Organisation member states, from where any Namibian national or private entity would like to import them.
“The regulatory requirements, therefore, require a letter of no technical objection (NTO) issued by the executive director. After that, the Namibian state is in a position to conduct safety oversight on the aircraft type. Secondly, an export certificate of airworthiness issued by the State registry with information regarding the airworthiness status of the aircraft and compliance with the aircraft type certificate,” Sem explained.
She continued: “Thirdly, a certificate of deregistration issued by the state of registration as proof that the aircraft has been taken out of the previous state’s national aircraft register.”
She reiterated: “Lastly, we wish to draw your attention to the completed report of the Cessna 210N Centurion V5-LMK as available online from the directorate of aircraft accident and incident investigations (DAAII). It is essential to note that correlating technical faults concerning an aircraft accident can only be done if it is determined that the same aircraft type had a common failure under similar prevailing conditions.”
Westair responds
According to Westair, the airworthiness of the Cessna 406 involved in the deadly crash will be established after investigations.
Westair spokesperson Elzanne McCulloch told New Era that “Westair cannot make any comments on the plane itself until the conclusion of the aircraft accident investigations.”
Meanwhile, the director of the DAAII, Magnus Abraham, said the Cessna 406 was manufactured in the US, and the engine in Canada.
“I assure the nation we will get to the bottom of this. We will get to what the real cause was. And as we say, an event like this is not caused by a single cause. It is a sequence of events that must have happened. But we have already narrowed it down to certain things; we have some footage of cameras. The Cessna is a good aircraft, a well-known aircraft flown around the world. Namibia is no exception. We have already seized all the documents from the operator. We’re also receiving the others from the regulator, which has all the serial numbers we need to study,” Abraham said.