From the Nagami Times last week:
Botswana in aviation safety shake up
A shake up of Botswana's aviation – both the national carrier and other aircraft registered in the country - is on the go following the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) validation of the country for effective implementation of ICAO's standards and recommended practices.
This follows a validation mission conducted in Botswana in April.
The purpose was to check on the progress made by Botswana following a safety audit carried out in May 2006 which showed, then, that Botswana was only at 27.8% of effective implementation of standards and recommended practices.
The new mission was a full-scale one covering all the eight audit areas of legislation, organisation, personnel licensing, flight operations (OPS), airworthiness, accident and incident investigation, air navigation services and aerodromes and ground aids.
Botswana was this time rated at 59.6% of effective implementation as compared to 27.8% in 2006, says the Civil Aviation Authority Botswana (CAAB).
The positive rating is better than the average for Africa which is 41% and is almost equal to the global average of 60%.
The mission team acknowledged “the commendable progress made by Botswana since the 2006 audit, noting that significant improvements have been made in almost all the safety-related areas.” There were however two potential significant safety concerns, one relating to the certification process for the issuance of air operator certificates and the other relating to the approval of aircraft modifications and repairs.
ICAO wrote to the CAAB and requested Botswana, through the CAAB, to submit a correction action plan detailing how the safety concerns would be resolved. It is anticipated that this wilkl have been completed by October.
The CAAB has since submitted a detailed corrective action plan with an estimated completion date of October 2013.
This entails the re-certifying all air operators in accordance with the Civil Aviation (Air Operator Certification and Administration) Regulations, 2013 which were published on March 8.
In addition, the CAAB will conduct a comprehensive structured review of all major modifications and major repairs embodied on Botswana registered aircraft to ensure compliance with associated civil aviation regulations of Botswana and ICAO provisions.
In both recertification and review and approval of modifications and repairs, the CAAB is in close consultations with and provides guidance to all affected air operators and is pleased with their
Co-operation. These consultations and co-operation are critical.
“In its correspondence with Botswana, ICAO acknowledged Botswana's commitment
in helping ICAO achieve its safety objectives and called on the CAAB to continue giving
progress updates on the corrective actions for ICAO's continued monitoring of the
status,” the CAAB said.
“The CAAB, as an aviation regulator in Botswana, is currently working around the clock to
correct the two significant safety concerns on Botswana. It is worth noting that
Botswana's rating at 59.6% of Effective Implementation in 2013 as compared to 27.8% in 2006 represents a significant improvement. “ In terms of the process agreed between Botswana and ICAO, the draft report will be ready within 90 days from April 9 after which Botswana will have 45 days to respond or comment.
A very important flight safety aspect is to publish and circulate accident reports so that lessons can be learnt and necessary changes made. We all know that this accident report was leaked ages ago. It lists the CEO on the very small distribution list. Perhaps it got lost in the Botswana post to her
It makes interesting reading. As you say GRM we must not lose sight of the fact that it was an engine failure nothing more nothing less. The trees were not a factor. The trees were a performance issue but Martin would almost certainly have cleared them if the engine had not blown up. End of story - well not really, but you know what I mean.
The Sunday Standard is not correct considerable improvements have been made. The reporter failed to note:
The positive rating is better than the average for Africa which is 41% and is almost equal to the global average of 60%.
This doesn't mean that we should be complacent however.