The Minister for Aviation, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has indicated that a committee set up to investigate the accident involving a Starbow domestic airline at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) has called for the review the company’s operational control and employment of qualified personnel.
The accident happened when Starbow Flight IKM104 with about 66 passengers and five crew members was about to take off from Accra to Kumasi on November 25, 2017.
It veered off the runway crashing into a barbed fence at the airport which halted the velocity of the plane.
According to her, Starbow is to also arrange a re-training of its crew to include Cockpit Resource Management and Aborted Take-off while pilots are also advised to be careful in adverse weather conditions.
The Minister, who was in parliament yesterday to respond to a question filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Adaklu, Kwame Agbodza as to what caused the Starbow accident, said her ministry quickly set up a five-member committee to investigate the cause of the accident and make recommendations to prevent further accidents.
According to the Minister, due to heavy downpour on that fateful day, the aircraft veered off the runway as it was taxiing for a take-off.
The Minister said that in the process, the captain’s seat inadvertently moved rearward, which forced him to transfer control of the aircraft to the co-pilot.
“Loss of situational awareness on the part of the cockpit crew led to runway excursion,” the Minister said, stressing that the crew initiated action to bring the aircraft to a stop but did not follow the correct procedure in aborting the take-off.
All staff and management of Air Traffic Control at the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) must be familiar with all requirements of the accident and incident procedures contained in the Standard Operational Procedure (SPO) of the Ghana Airports Company Limited.
“GCAA must establish a standing preliminary investigation team with approved procedures which include the authority requesting for medical and toxicological tests,” she noted
She said Starbow will have to also ensure that the Airworthiness Directive No 2016-0256 is effected on all subsequent Starbow aircraft manufacturers ATR before they are added to their fleet.
The Minister, however, said that the Ministry is about to give approval to two other domestic airline operators, including ‘Baby Jet’ airlines, to bring competition and improve standards in the airline operations, adding that Ghanaians must not be apprehensive about air travel because air transportation is the safest.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr