Obasanjo orders public hearing on 2005 Sosoliso crash
President Olusegun Obasanjo has ordered a public inquiry into the December 10, 2005 Sosoliso plane crash in Port-Harcourt which claimed 103 lives.
Only two of the 110 passengers and crew on board the DC-9 aircraft survived the crash in which many students of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja, returning for holidays and Pastor Bimbo Odukoya died.
The Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani- Kayode, announced the president's directive in Ikeja on Monday, He expressed dissatisfaction with the report of the Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau (AIPB) on the accident, released on October 18.
Fani-Kayode said Obasanjo ordered the public inquiry into the accident ``in the spirit of justice, decency, and accountability''.
He added that as minister, he also had his reservations on the reports of crashes released by the AIPB in the recent past, noting that the bureau would soon be restructured.
The ministerr declared: ``There are so many interests within and outside the ministry which they have to contend with.
``Now that we have a public inquiry, everybody will have access to all the relevant facts. When the facts are out, we will be able to bring the matter to a close.
``I think as a nation, all of us will feel a lot better and of course, we would have satisfied all the contending interests, especially where innocent blood is involved.''
Fani-Kayode said security agents were already prosecuting the suspects arrested in connection with the combustible material discovered on board an airliner recently.
He noted that the practice violated civil aviation law.
He announced that work on the controversial Safe Tower was on course, while investigations into the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) project were going on.
``Nobody will escape the law, and anybody who colluded with people in order to make money out of the project, I assure you that the right thing will be done'' he said.
The AIPB had on October 18, released the report of investigations into the Sosoliso plane crash, blaming the crew for trying to land without having the runway and airport in sight.
Mr Angus Ozoka, the Director of AIPB, gave the probable and contributory factors for the crash.
He said: ``The probable cause of the accident was the crew's decision to continue the approach to land beyond the decision altitude, without having the runway and/or airport in sight.''
Ozoka explained that the findings of the investgators revealed that there was a sudden change in weather as the aircraft made a final approach, ``with wind direction changing from 220 degrees/09 knots to 360 degrees/05 knots accompanied by poor visibility''.
He said the aircraft ``encountered adverse weather conditions with ingredients of wind shear activity on approach''.
The director added that poor visibility in thunderstorm and rain, as at the time the aircraft came in to land, was also a contributory factor to the crash.
The airfield lightings, he noted, were not on and might have impaired the pilot from sighting the runway.
Barely three weeks to the first anniversary of the Sosoliso air crash on Nov. 18, 2006, the airline suffered yet another setback.
Its operating certificate was suspended over safety concerns and failure to pay full compensation to the victims' families.