Crashed Helicopter Certified Non-Airworthy 3-Yrs-Ago, Owners Tricked NCAA To Obtain License

The Bell 206-B3 helicopter with registration number 5N-BQW, which crashed on 16A Salvation Road, Opebi, Lagos State, on Friday, August 28 was allegedly declared non-airworthy three years ago prior to the crash.

According to reports by SaharaReporters, documents show that the crashed helicopter was declared non-airworthy in 2017 by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.

Also, the aircraft has reportedly been used in the past by different Nigerian airline operators to allegedly dupe NCAA into issuing them Air Operators’ Certificates.
The Air Operator Certificate can only be issued for specific commercial air transport only when NCAA is satisfied that the operator has the required personal assets and system to ensure safety of the public.
 

According to Sahara Reporters, some operators use same helicopters previously presented by others to obtain AOCs from the NCAA including the ill-fated Bell 206-3 aircraft with registration number 5N-BQW. An operator applying for AOC is required to have an air transport license from the NCAA, which permits it to operate and fly  passenger or cargo air services in the country.

The crashed Helicopter, has been allegedly used at different times by Omni-Blue Aviation Services and Quorum Aviation to obtain AOCs from the NCAA.

The aircraft was poorly equipped which led to the ill-fated crash in Lagos, killing two persons at the spot while the other victim died later at the hospital.