Is aviation in Africa really unsafe?
 

Though, a simple question this seems. I am indeed expecting very complex and conflicting answers. This question has the penchant for spin-offs; like

Are all the 54 nations and territories within the AFI region unsafe?

Is it a case of a hand with a couple of soiled fingers?

What are the real causes and the practical solutions to this 'safety question?

What will be the first two steps towards achieving better safety standards in this region as a unit?

Please feel free to chip in a two cents worth, we just might break this jinx!

I'm flying in Africa for a long time now, atleast its safe in Tanzania...

My experience of African aviation is limited (but I do have some!), so I am sure there are others who are better qualified to answer but here's my two cents anyway!

Acting in their favour:
- Some very good stick and rudder pilots.
- A genuine commitment and passion from most in the aviation sector.

Acting against African aviation safety:
- Old aircraft.
- A relatively cavalier (or even cowboy) attitude of some operators. This is fostered by the African spirit of adventure and left unchecked by some authorities. Many authorities have realized this and are now playing catchup on their own limited resources.
- Old aircraft.
- Old equipment in general. For example not many navaids or approach aids. Many not maintained to the standards of the developed world.
- Inadequate supply of well trained people leading to many 200 hr people flying with relatively little supervision. The same goes for ATC and engineers.
- The geographic problems imposed by Africa. It's so vast and spread out that if anything happens help is so far away.
- The meteorological problems. In the developed world you're surprised if you can't get a TAF / METAR for where you're going. In Africa it's a luxury. Add to that the extreme weather which can build very quickly and you're in trouble.

So... is aviation in Africa really unsafe? Statistically you're more likely to die in a plane in Africa than in Europe or America. But you're also more likely to die in a car. Does that make driving unsafe? It's a question of how much risk you're willing to take. These risks can be mitigated by flying with reputable operators. IMHO, these flights present an acceptable level of risk.

Africa is 50 something countries and hundreds of operators. Whilst it would be fair to say that overall the risk of flying in Africa is higher than in Western Europe or North America, if you look at individual countries you will find a huge variance, such as that between, for example, DRC and South Africa, the latter being possibly one of the safest countries in the world in which to fly.

welliewanger's post gives you some good answers. I'd add to the negatives, poor or often non existent ATC over much of the continent.

Safety will not be improved until there is money to throw at it. Most of the governments in Africa are so corrupt that any money thrown at the problems will end up in the Swiss bank accounts of the despots who are in 'power'.

This sounds like a potentially 'hot' subject! Or maybe too big a scope for most people to take on board... Having learnt to fly in Africa, and am still flying commercially in the region, I think the safety issue comes down to a few key points.

Like ageing equipment which appears in a previous post. Aircraft/radios/nav aids that have been 'thrown' out by the West are frequently found operating happily in Africa. I recently got shown around an Antonov that still had bullet wounds from the PREVIOUS Afghan war in its fuselage!

Then there's the training. Personal experience of local training is that it is more important to have a uniform and tie, than quality instructors. Its more important for flying schools to churn out commercial pilots in quantity, than try to achieve quality. People in flying schools are often on a limited budget, and certificates are more important than practical flying skills. 250 CPL with gas turbine/C208 on licence with no idea what keeps a plane in the air or how to really fly. Schools that are so concerned about their accident records, they OFFICIALLY send out students on solos with safety pilots on board, and forbid them to land away from base airports in case of problems.

And lastly the reason a majority of pilots take up flying as a career - its not because they are passionate about flying, and spend all their days dreaming of being in the air, watching birds fly and wind effects etc. No, its often seen as a career that gets you out of Africa, paid opportunities to settle in the West, supply families and relatives with Western goods etc. Most jobs are seen as a fast track to an airline job, where decisions are taken from you and you always fly with a co-pilot. Nice and safe. But not passionate.

I also believe that the more automation there is on board the less pilots have to think for themselves, and the less they can think for themselves when things go wrong and the automation lets you down. I don't think Africa does itself any favours with its no-blame policy either. If someone has a mishap lets all learn from their experience - but no, culturally we'd rather bury the whole story or make a hero out of the guy who screwed up rather than admit we're human and flawed.

We still have way too many CFITS despite GPS, we're still trying to be heroes and land in marginal conditions, we still don't admit we're not as good as we should be, if the job demands it we'll fly a bucket of bolts than be principled adn say its unairworthy, we'd rather blame a hitherto unknown weather/mechanical issue than confess we let things get out of hand, and its more important to look the part and have the paperwork than to be actually able to do the job. Fly solo in the bush - NO, our families would much rather we were soft & comfortable in an airline job for all the goodies that go with it.

There are pilots in Africa that are skilled, principled, talented, trained and fit for the job in great aircraft, doing an amazing job. There are also too many that aren't.

Great Start..
 

Foxcotte, B737, Welliewanger and Capetonian,

Many thanks for your fantastic feed back

It is evident, the East African community (EAC; Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda) and the South African development community (SADC) has made more progress in areas of regional economic co-operation than the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.
However, a close inspection of the 15 members of the SADC will reveal it hosts Africa’s two extremes of the aviation safety spectrum; South Africa accepted as the safest and DRC accused of being at the bottom of the rung.

The Capetown protocol (effective 2006 ) seems to have some degree of success in facilitating procurement of modern aircraft, but with limited access to credit how far will it go for African carriers? The Banjul accord group (29 Jan 2004) is limited to only English speaking 7 countries in West Africa. Yamoussoukro decision; initially consummated August 2000 is yet to be fully implemented by all members over 10 years after coming into effect.
Does this mean :

• Wrong Strategy?
• Poor implementation? or
• Adverse external circumstances ?; Global recession, regional conflict,

For the first time in 8 years, African carriers collectively recorded $100Million profit last year. This is good news for some African operators.

IATA is forecasting a 6.5% growth in commercial international traffic for the area this year. This is even better news for foreign operators who have invested in opening more than 20 new routes to African destinations.Obviously, these carriers are not coming flying into Africa for charity; not with Lagos London noted as the most profitable routes for the British carriers.

In examining the Plethora of causes of the poor safety regime, what are your thoughts on these and any more causes that come to mind:

1. Lack of common aviation policy objectives within the regions' governments
2. Regional conflict and Political instability
3. Lack of skilled man-power
4. Poor infrastructure and navigation deficiencies
5. Widespread Corruption
6. Multiple disharmonious regulations and poor training standards
7. Lack of synergy within the regional airlines

To try and give some context: the latest figures for African carriers from February this year were roughly 5% of world passenger miles and 23% of the accidents.

That's western built jets only referred to above and also in the quote below. You might well comment on the age and provenance of these aircraft but those figures are without GA piston, turbo prob or the exiled Eastern European contingent included.

Rob

It all depends on what you compare to. If you compare flying in africa to flying in europe, yes, it flying in africa is more dangerous. However, if you compare flying in africa to travel on road in africa, flying starts to look like the best way to keep alive.

If you need to travel in africa, you have two options. 1) fly 2) drive. Roads are in bad condition and people drive like maniacs in poorly maintained cars and trucks. Not to mention the chances of getting robbed on the road. Even (or especially) in DRC flying is significantly safer than driving!

I depressing example was in Kigali where a crj crashed to terminal. 1 pax and two bystanders died... not in the plane crash, but when the ambulance driving the injured from the airport to hospital crashed :ugh:

If you want to stay safe... stay home!
If you want to travel in africa as safely as possible... fly!

So from the previous information might one conclude that the answer to the original question is that aviation in Africa is really, really unsafe?
(Doesn't 5% of the passenger miles and 23% of the accidents makes an aircraft accident/crash possibility 46 times greater on the sub continent than elsewhere and that's only for jet airline carriers?)
One must concede that driving is pretty hazardous throughout Africa but then that's probably because most of the drivers in Africa either don't or shouldn't have licences.

It is all about money.
Most of Africa is in serious poverty so funds for infrastructure and modern aircraft are simply not available. This feeds a culture of "make do and mend" and low expectations.

Unlike the first world airports capable of taking passenger jets are also a long way apart so when something goes wrong you are usually around 100 miles from the nearest NDB which stopped working years ago and has never been fixed and your nearest diversion is probably 250 miles away.

Pilots often come up through the GA and 19 seat market making a living as bush pilots. Most are excellent at their job but when they eventually make the transition to an airline they are deeply ingrained with the african aviation culture. This is not really compatible with best airline practice.

Airlines which cannot afford decent salaries attract less experienced crews who, in turn, have more interest in building enough hours to get out than in building a professional company culture.

It really does all come back to insufficient money and lack of investment.

I think people are over thinking the problem.

Think back to your human factors where 80% of the accidents are human error.

Aviation is as safe as YOU make it.

Should you make that tight approach or just extend a little wider and giver yourself a stable approach?
Should you push on into that weather when there is mountians around?
Should you land when there is that big thunderstorm on final approach?

I've flown with a lot of different people here and there is a HUGE ego problem.

This feeds a culture of "make do and mend" and low expectations.
 

Ancient Geek,

Thanks for your response; from which I gather that:

1. Lack of funds or access to credit is a serious draw-back to safety.
2. The vast expanse of the land area requires strategic location of emergency, search and rescue facilities.
3. A culture of "make do and mend"leads to compromise of professional ethics of operations personnel.

Can you elucidate a bit more on the third item "make and mend" culture. I dont want infer but I worked for 12 year in lagos Nigeria and was invlolved in safety advocacy there for some 7 years. So, I have come across some hair raising issues. It'll be useful to know how prevalent issue regarding operational/engineering unsafe practices have led to decline in safety levels.

One of my experiences, in 1996, an operator (Kabo Air) programmed a commercial flight on BAC 1-11 without any crew or passenger oxygen. When the Pilot declined to fly unless given enough fuel to conduct the 1:30hr at FL100, he was fired on the spot. Sadly, another Pilot was told what has happened and threatened with sack if he did'nt take the flight agreed and conducted the flight up to FL250. Obviously, both engineering and operations personnel were complicit in this reckless disregard for safety.
The good news is, this breaches are now in decline.

What you fear about flying into Africa!
 

Thanks guys,
Just to throw more light as to why, I seem to asking questions and seeking clarifications of what may well be obvious. I am doing some research about safety in Africa and trying to be more objective by expanding the scope of my data.
I know there are a lots good of long haul, charter or contract Pilots, and aviation professionals that don't live or work permanently in Africa but they fly there regularly or perhaps occasionally. Giving them the best possible vantage point to compare the levels of safety between Africa and other regions; from an operational perspective.
Two years ago, I know some pilots on a LHR-FAJS don't relax when they're south of latitude N30 until they get into radar contact from Gaborone. There have been improvements like RVSM implementation, CPDLC trials in Algiers, Niamey, Senegal, Chad and Madagascar. So more flight levels and better communications.

However, other issues still persist such as out-dated notams, the usual dead- space around Luanda where you're not even in HF contact, the lack of TAFs or metars for DNKN (Kano, Nigeria), VOR/DME off the air in Lagos but the controllers seem to be oblivious and are asking you for your DME distance and intend to clear you for a VOR/ILS approach 18R, lack of SID's and STARs meaning you have to manually copy clearances prone to errors, changes from semi-circular to quadrantal rules because you're crossing a country just 80nm wide, differing radio failure and interception procedures, poor airport security and infra-structure, Malaria, hot humid weather, thunderstorms, the hotels you stay in, the Power interruptions, local crime,.e.t.c.

You know all the kind of things that remind you of the value of having a life insurance, telling your family you love them before going off to work, having a will with a solicitor somewhere, e.t.c.

All of these for a continent with about 54 nations and a total population less than (one country) India's 1.2 billion people. Noting that India has one set of regulations, one regulatory agency and one civil aviation policy.

( I'm designing a short survey, but I want to include issues that are of relevance to real people who endure the conditions we're hoping will be alleviated. )

So here's the million dollar question:

As a Pilot, what are your personal safety concerns when flying into Africa?
What gives you that slight felling of unease when flying into Africa?
( one liners accepted, but if you the time and the juice, let it rip!)

Thank you all for you input.

I was once asked to prepare a loadsheet which would have placed the a/c above MTOW. On becoming aware of this, I contacted a 'superior' (in title only) who told me to 'adjust' the amount of fuel that had been uplifted so as to show a lower figure. I refused and this was one of the events which led to me being fired.

Another was telling someone he was not allowed to smoke on the tarmac whilst the aircraft was being refuelled. He pulled the: "Do you know who I am?" line and when I found out who he was, told him he bloody well ought to have known better.

TIA!

G'day DRPAM007

You obviously fly there, so you are as aware as the others on how it works in Afreeka.

Being of Oz descent, l do enjoy the hands on traffic management that one does by thine ones self.

What p!sses me off is the bullsh!t that others spurt to either improve their current status or to just upset yours.

Classic example is a Canadair biz jet wanting a much higher level in N'Djamena than what we were constricting him to. So he lied about his DME from position X! Same DME as us!
We could see him and was no more than two miles in front on the same airway, and he knew it.
He was cleared through our level to climb!

We diverted right and managed to accommodate him, as he blatantly violated our level and area. We were safe and no TCAS call's. He at no time asked us for assistance.

Khama rained and as we crossed into Libya he was forced down below us by Kufra. A Dutch cargo operator was adamant the Canadair had breached many protocols and was threatening over the radio to said fellow of his requirement to meet him in a bar somewhere to punch his lights out, as he maintained his level.

I would love to be there but all the other sh!t that happens there, l couldn't care less and just get on with getting home safely and without incident.

Good luck to all others that venture into bullsh!t area.

Have to agree with Captonian.

Those words by the Sheila in J'burg control "radar identified" are the most reassuring words one can ever hear after passing through the "rest of it!"

halas

Cool mods!

To get back to the original question, aviation in Africa is VERY safe if you use reputable ICAO carriers flying well maintained modern aircraft such as SAA. Most international visitors will use one of the many large airlines serving African destinations and have nothing to worry about.

The problems are further down the food chain with the worst offenders being UN aid flights which MUST be contracted to the lowest bidder with no consideration given safety.

Between the best and the worst lie a wide range of carriers of varying reputation, most of which are struggling against a lack of money and resources. In many countries such as the DRC regulation is a joke and
corruption is rife - AVOID.

The statistics could be vastly improved by eliminating the small number of worst cases but this is not easy where there is a national culture of poverty and corruption.

It depends on how you define "safe", but hull loss rates in Africa of western built transport category aircraft are about 20 times higher in Africa than in the USA.

Take a closer look at the operators involved and the lack of regulation in the countries concerned. Reputable airlines are as safe as any in the western world. The problem is that the worst cases are skewing the statistics.

The regulations and the regulator...
 

Ancient Geek,

In your post you mentioned
Just to be concise, do you actually mean lack of regulation? or

• poorly written regulations? or
• The regulatory authority not doing the "regulating".

I'll be grateful if you can provide example or instances.
My personal example : In 1997, the Nigerian CAA still had a 16 hour duty periods for pilots without limits as whether you can do that for6 consecutive days or not.
Of course, it was promptly corrected when we brought that to their attention.

Anyone has had to grapple with some "senseless" or "out-dated" regulations in the AFI region?

Regulation:-

There are many others here with more recent experiences who should be better informed. It is, however, common knowledge that in some countries there is no effective regulation and corruption is rife.

There is wide variation, in some countries the local CAA or equivalent is highly professional and effective. South Africa and Kenya are excellent examples in my experience.

Some of the worst examples such as Somalia do not even have an effective government.

Avoid the worst of the hell holes and you should be safe.

DRPAM007, a good thread, but with just soooooooo many variables,it would be one thing if aviation was the problem, but things like lack of road infrastructure, hospital and medical services, comms, education, general maintenance all add up.Reading (ands sifting through) the thread 'You know you are in Africa when' actually sums most of it up.........
The hassle is what to do!

Lack of regulation
 

In my 6 years of flying in Nigerian airspace, I don't feel the airspace is safe. Everything falls back to lack of regulation. Also the regulations are hastily drawn up and not very concise e.g. The current NigCARs 2009 FTLs were hastily copied of FAA part 135. They are very basic and unrealistic.
Here are a few major safety lapses I have observed in Nigerian and most of African aviation:
1. Civil Aviation regulations in Africa are very basic, and are not tailored to the local environment.

2. Civil aviation authorities lack both quality and quantity of manpower to allow them satisfactorily perform their oversight functions.

3. Most operators do not implement what they have documented, due to lack of CAA oversight

4. Operators willing flaunt regulations knowing they won't be caught, due to lack of CAA oversight

5. Levels of technical knowledge among professionals is low. Sometimes due to lack of adequate training. Sometimes due to lack of checking standards to prevent incompetent people from occupying critical positions. Sometimes due to people presenting false credentials. All these exist due to lack of CAA oversight.

6. Cultural and political issues. CRM has improved in Nigeria but cultural issues still prevent younger people from speaking up. Also the political climate in some countries makes it difficult for safety reporting systems to function properly, due to fear of reprisal. I know that Nigerians are less likely than other nationals to put pen to paper and report irregularities.

7. Lack of adequate facilities. Lack of CAA oversight is also responsible, in part for this.

That's all I can come up with for now.

Regulations or lack thereof don't kill people.

People kill people.

And yes, African people are dangerous. (all colours)

I don't think that the lack of safety in African aviation can be put down to any one factor. Lack of money is definitely a big one, corruption another, poor equipment, poor training and poor quality people involved are also just as relevant.

Aviation just isn't taken as seriously in Africa as in other places. Companies and pilots get complacent and start treating planes as some sort of buses, and keeping pushing the boundaries until something gives. Then get all upset, hit the denial button big time, and promptly keep on doing the same old stupid mistakes.

Some of the accidents in my neck of the woods aren't even declared officially - aircraft get quietly repaired and put back into service having had nothing more serious than an 'off airport precautionary landing'. How good is that for spin doctoring a pilot cocking up royally, and plonking a plane load of passengers down in the bush!! And even if a prang is investigated, the investigators don't know what they're looking for, or can be bought off!! A down hill, down wind takeoff without basic directional control resulted in some serious cabin damage to a twin. Investigators spent hours measuring how far off the runway the aircraft came to rest, believed the story it was an engine failure and NEVER tried the perfectly good engines to see for themselves.

In Africa, we're experts at excuses!! Rotor winds that turn planes upside down, mountain waves that suck aircraft thirty miles off course, mysterious one plane turbulence, faulty batches of tyres, bad fuel, sabotage, engine failures etc. The one thing we rarely ever hear about is a pilot F-up. And let's face it - no matter what the ending factor is, most of the time the pilot failed to see the problem earlier down the line, and failed to do the right thing then.

What am I most scared of in aviation is definitely the people... ATC that clears small VFR traffic into your flight path in totally IMC conditions - Knowingly!! Pilots that don't listen to radio calls, or are half asleep when they make a call. Disinterest from airline management that allows shortcuts to put jets in the wrong place - Officially. Being told by an IR examiner to do a DME arc at an airport that doesn't have any published DME procedure because he was bored of the usual!! Pilots that can only press GOTO on a GPS and have never opened a map since their PPL. Egotists that can't be told they're past it/behind the loop/dangerously untrained etc. And companies that are so obsessed with the financial bottom line, they don't care about pilots or planes.

Definitely the people worry me most!!!

I.R. Pirate,
A bit unfair generalisation, dont you think?
You seem to infer that all other nationalities adhere to safe aviation practices while in Africa except the Locals (all colours)

Have you thought of instances where non- African Pilots, engineers and other personnel have displayed reckless disregard for safety when operating in Africa because of the mis-conception that "This is Africa, where nothing works and normal rules dont apply"?
I personally have had quite a few instances. An example was while flying as co-pilot to some smart ambitious expatriate line training captain ( ex-Logan air skipper) who thought it was a good idea for us to take off overweight on a commercial flight with passengers, with a loadsheet which he signed showing the airplane being over the MTOW. As a measure of goodwill, he decided to falsify the loadsheet. When I insisted we need to remove actual weights from the aircraft, he tried to kick up a fuss saying the aircraft can take off with the excess weight. He then recommended starting up , taxi to a remote area rev the engines and burn fuel till we are at the MTOW. I reminded him that we were well about the Max ramp weight also. He became verbally abusive and I calmly informed him that I intend to make formal report of the event; that sort of shut him up.
To cut the story short, we dropped some baggage, completed the flight and I filed my report. He got a slap on the wrist, but I think it scuttled his plans of becoming chief Pilot.

My point is, will he even dream of attempting such madness in The UK with Logan air?
Imagine what he'll do if I was'nt there?

Capt Manuvar,

Great stuff, many thanks for your input.
The regulator's ability to provide the effective oversight function is the basis of the FAA international aviation safety assessment (IASA). On the logic that a bad regulator has no chance of producing a safe system.

In addition to autonomy the regulator is expected to have evidence of:

• laws or regulations necessary to support the certification and oversight of air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards;

• technical expertise, resources, and organization to license or oversee air carrier operations;

• adequately trained and qualified technical personnel;

• adequate inspector guidance to ensure enforcement of, and compliance with, minimum international standards; and

• sufficient documentation and records of certification and adequate continuing oversight and surveillance of air carrier operations.

I think a major missing part of the framework is the lack of collective commitment of regional (AFI) governments towards improving safety standards by implementing policies that will tackle the source of the problems rather than the symptoms.

(The mis-conception that "This is Africa, where nothing works and normal rules dont apply.)
And if that isn't a misconception you've just answered your own question.

Why do I get the feeling that you are angling at "Africa needs to be regulated" And not accepting that it is the people flying here.

The person that you named, the training captain, is excatly the problem that we are trying to point out.

They know they can get away with it, so they do it. The lack of common sense and professionalism is what causes a huge amount of the accidents here.

We are a supposedly smart bunch of people. We know what is right and what is wrong.
Just because we can get away with it, isn't a excuse to do so.

Gertrude. Hamlet. III. ii. 239.

Indeed, a lack of proper regulation and enforcement is NOT an excuse for bad practices.

Responsible operators and professional pilots adhere to best practice regardless of who is watching.

The problem is the cowboy operators who thrive where there is a fast buck to be made where the law is not watching.

Yup, and low time crews short cutting the process thereby missing out on a great deal of learning isn't helping things. The cowboy operators love folks like that. They'll do anything to get and hold on to a job, including illegal and downright stupid and dangerous stuff.

DRPAM007, you totally miss my point.

There is a serious attitude problem in Africa, and in African people.

Still too much to prove.

And thats about as deep as I am getting into that on this forum :)

Fly safely

Have you thought of instances where non- African Pilots, engineers and other personnel have displayed reckless disregard for safety when operating in Africa because of the mis-conception that "This is Africa, where nothing works and normal rules dont apply"? -Yes, they are called Russians.

The Kenyan CAA being effective??? WHAT??? LMAO! One word, a certain CRJ operator based at HKJK.

I.R. Pilot, Black Labels to you my friend from Primus country. You're alright

I'm an SLF who flies extensively in Africa, mostly to capital cities etc - no bush flying. I searched out PPRUNE to inform myself better after undergoing a flight in Cameroon that I wished I had never boarded. I have lost a friend in a failure of African aviation.

My main concern is how do I reduce the risks to an acceptable level?

In the same vein as the Ancient Geek, I presume that IOSA certified airlines are reasonably safe. On that basis, I recommended Afriqiyah Airways to a friend. Luckily, she didn't listen to me. What does an IOSA certificate really say about an airline's safety?

I also note that some African airlines that may be OK are too small to afford IOSA. I'm thinking primarily about Air Botswana here. Could this be the case?

I also do a PPRUNE search on African airlines that I don't know. However, the PPRUNE consensus view has been wrong on Bellview, SLOK and Afriqiyah at least. So, if PPRUNE can get Africa wrong, where else to look for information?

To end my post, I want to be positive. National air markets are mostly pretty small in Africa. To operate an African airline at any sort of efficient scale and hence in affordable safety, there needs to be some sort of cross-border ownership / partnership. Kenya Airways and its affiliates seem to be a good business model here.

Just my 2c worth.

IMO, the single biggest reason for African Aviation being in the state its in is that there is no political will to fix the problems, largely due to the fact that this would actually involve having to spend money on stuff, instead of syphoning it into one's off shore bank account like we've been doing all these years.

To most African transport ministeries all the ICAO/IATA/OAU air safety conferences are little more than an excuse to have a bit of a tax payer funded jolly , in a nice 5 star hotel with one's mates as well as frequenting a few titty bars along the way. Thats just before the delegates get together for a backslapping session where they all bullsh1t each other how well their respective countries are doing since the colonial powers left.

Very few of those delegates actually give a toss about their jobs as doing anything constructive towards aviation safety may actually involve having to do something called 'work' (:eek::eek::eek:) which as we all know has not been done in many African governments since the colonial powers left years ago.

More so the fact that most heads of African Aviation authorities are political appointments based on ones party conections and has nothing to do with having come from an aviation background. Some African countries CAA chiefs would be hard pressed to be able to differentiate between a space shuttle and a Piper Cub for all they know about matters aeronautical.

The international community is wasting their time and money in trying to do anything too serious regarding improvement of aviation safety as long as incompetance is allowed to prevail in the running of African countries and their aviation ministeries.

We should first encourage regime change in the worst and most decrepid of these countries, install competant persons into their goverments and then we can move forward from there.

I know that this is a generalisation but apart from a very few countries who actually do have their act together, from my experience , this is the general state of things in most of Africa.

Spot on max. Add the buddy system, which will hunt you down if you go against any of their cronies.

The problem of aviation cannot be isolated from the general state of things particularly in the sub-saharan region. Get rid of the kleptomaniacs, things will begin to change.