THOMAS HARDY, the English novelist, titled his fourth novel Far From the Madding Crowd. It is this same expression that runs through my mind as I pen this piece. Aviation is a global business, with a set of collective standards geared towards the safety of lives and as such it is a sector that should always like, Thomas Hardy’s novel, be far from the madding crowd.

The Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amechi and his cohorts, should live the permutation of 2015, political clefts and other petty egoisms far from the quaint turf of civil aviation. Politicians should be told unambiguously that Nigeria’s skylines are not the canvass for settling political scores.

Aviation is practised globally far from the madding crowd of murky politics.
Some political commentators without knowledge of best aviation practices the world over or those who have decided to be blinded by selective perception have decided to take sides without recourse to the facts of the matter.

They have lifted the monomaniac fixation first on the VIPs that were stranded in Akure instead of taking into consideration the abnormality of the flight’s operation in Nigeria, most importantly the alleged colouration of politics even in the face of incontrovertible evidence of flouting the Nigerian and United States aviation rules with impunity.

It will be recalled that on April 26, 2013 the said aircraft was refused start-up at Akure Airport due to inadequate and improper documentation. To put it straight, the pilot failed and/or refused to file a proper Passenger Manifest declaring the full identity of all passengers on the aircraft for the intended flight as mandatorily required by the regulatory authorities.

The pilot presented an improper document purporting to be a “passenger manifest”. This raised an eyebrow and led to further reviewing of the aircraft’s records. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, discovered that the aircraft appeared to be operating illegally within the Nigerian airspace.

Specifically, it was revealed that the aircraft did not have a valid flight clearance for its operations on April 26, 2013 as the last purported clearance obtained for the aircraft expired on April 2, 2013.
The aircraft with registration number N565RS is currently listed on the U.S. Department of Transport, DOT, Federal Aviation Administration Registry.

The registration was issued to “BANK OF UTAH TRUSTEE” of 200 E, South Temple, Suite 210 and Salt Lake City, UT 84111-1346. The registration was issued on September 28, 2012 and will expire on September 30, 2015. The registration certificate explicitly states that the aircraft registration is NOT TRANSFERABLE.

There is also the matter of the Coat of Arms and Identity of the Government of Rivers State being emblazoned and displayed on the aircraft in question, when there is no record or evidence of the state government’s ownership, lease, or other recognised legal or beneficial interest in the aircraft presented to or filed before the civil regulatory authorities.

As stated in paragraph 2 above, available records indicate that the aircraft is currently registered to “Bank of Utah Trustee” until September 30, 2015, and the said registration is not transferrable.
The aircraft is currently insured with Alliance Global Risks US Insurance Company. The Policy Holder noted on the Certificate of Insurance is “ACASS CANADA LIMITED” of 6700 Cote de Liesse, Suite 206, Montreal, QC H4T 2B5, Canada.

The Certificate of Insurance is dated September 28, 2012 to expire on  August 12, 2013, and it appears to have been issued with respect to a “Ferry Flight Agreement” of September 2012. Furthermore, the presentation of false information or forged documentation to regulatory authorities in the processing of official approvals or permits is clearly a serious violation of the Civil Aviation Act, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations and other extant criminal laws in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The operators of the aircraft in question appear to have deliberately and fraudulently obtained several flight clearances from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authorities using forged documentation purportedly emanating from Caverton Helicopters. Worse still, the aircraft attempted to and did operate within the Nigerian airspace on April 26, 2013 without any flight clearance whatsoever in total violation of all extant civil aviation laws and regulations.

Governor Amaechi should understand that as an important person in the firmament of Nigerian state and politics, he must be saved from himself, saved from the illegality of operating an unregistered aircraft in Nigeria. The civil aviation authorities in Nigeria have set a precedence by stopping this act of impunity; it is indeed their core mandate and they must live by their responsibilities. No one stops Governor Amaechi from crisscrossing the Nigerian skyline, but first he must get it right!

*Mr.  YAKUBU DATI, Corporate Affairs manager, FAAN, wrote from  Lagos.