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Aviation minister asks
pilots to obey safety guidelines
Aviation minister Femi Fani-Kayode has charged pilots in the country to
strive to obey all laid-down guidelines in the industry, in the interest of
the flying public.
Fani-Kayode spoke at the Wings ceremony of Virgin Nigeria Airways in Lagos
today, a programme which marked the graduation and decoration of the
airline's newly-trained pilots and cabin crew.
The minister, who was represented by his Special Assistant, Mr Deremi
Ajidahun, said he was reiterating the call because most accidents in the
industry were attributable to human errors.
He said aviation was serious business and no effort should be spared in
ensuring safety and security in all activities in the industry.
Fani-Kayode said that the flying public held pilots in high esteem and
expected nothing less than the highest standards from them.
The minister lauded Virgin Nigeria for elevating the quality of pilots in
the country by its vigorous training programmes both locally and
internationally, and charged other operators to emulate them.
He noted that pilots and cabin crew, apart from the engineers, had a great
role to play in safety and security as they were ambassadors of the airlines
Fani-Kayode charged the graduands to let their training impact positively on
their operations.
The chief executive officer of Virgin Nigeria Airways, Mr Conrad Clifford,
said the graduands were being given wings after undergoing training in
safety and emergency procedures, aviation medicine and security, dangerous
goods and crew resource management.
Clifford said four pilots and 50 cabin crew were graduating out of the
intended 23 pilots and 70 cabin crew, and gave the assurance that others
would receive their wings early next year.
He said the graduands, who were trained in U.K, Germany and Nigeria, had
been exposed to training on the Airbus A-340-300 and Boeing 737-300 aircraft
and were set to change the face of air travel in the country.
Clifford tasked the graduands to be good ambassadors of the airline.
One of the graduating pilots, Mr Wale Oke, told the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) that the training was challenging and intense, adding that he foresaw
the airline increasing its rating in the industry globally in the next one
year.
Virigin Nigeria had earlier in March graduated a large number of captains
and cabin crew. Friday's wings ceremony is the fourth by the airline.
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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24 2006