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Controversy trails N33.5m NCAA fine on First Nation Airline

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Controversy trails N33.5m NCAA fine on First Nation Airline

Though the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has given seven days to First Nation Airways, within which to pay a fine of about 33.5 million, the airline has raised some issues on the basis of the fine.

NCAA had at the weekend slammed the airline with N32 million and N1.5 million on one of its pilots for violating some safety regulations.

The aviation sector regulator had alleged that First Nation had failed to drop its pilot from duty over his expired medical report.

It was gathered that NCAA medical team on random check at the weekend, found out that that the pilot had no current medical certificates when he was to operate Abuja-Lagos-Kano bound flights on Sunday.

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In a letter addressed to the airline’s management, NCAA stated: “During a ramp inspection on your Airbus A319 Aircraft with registration mark 5N-FNE at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), it was discovered that the PIC was not in personal possession of a current medical certificate neither was it readily accessible.”

The agency said in his response, the pilot admitted violating Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (NCARs) while the airline demonstrated lack of thorough knowledge of the requirements of the regulations.

But the management of the airline said there was not enough opportunity given it and the indicted pilot to explain their own sides of the story.

“We are still collating facts to enable us react appropriately, as we see the whole action as a kind of siege on us. There is no doubt about this and our legal department had been instructed to take up the case”, said Andrew Unakan, a media consultant with the airline.

The media official wanted answers as to why it took NCAA about three months to discover that the pilot had been flying with expired licence.

However, NCAA spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, insisted that the inspection on the airline showed that the pilot’s medical certificate had expired since November 1, 2016, thereby rendering his Pilot Licence invalid from that date.

He denied allegation of witch-hunting by NCAA, adding that the international regulation in the industry frowns at such an offence as it could endanger lives of passengers, if allowed.

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