Appeal Panel Upholds NCAA’s N33.5m Sanction on First Nation, Pilot

Chinedu Eze

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced that a five-man appeal panel has upheld and reaffirmed the civil sanctions imposed on First Nation Airways and one of its pilots by the agency over infractions for which the airline was penalised N33.5 million.

NCAA made this known Sunday in a statement signed by its spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, and said that the upholding of the sanction was contained in the report submitted by the panel to the regulatory authority at the conclusion of the sitting.

NCAA explained that First Nation Airways had earlier filed an appeal following a letter of sanction written to the airline on January 23, 2017 and recalled that violations were detected during a ramp inspection on the airline’s aircraft, Airbus A319 with registration mark 5N-FNE, on November 8, 2016, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.

“After the exercise, it was discovered that the Pilot-in-Command (PIC) was not in possession of a current medical certificate. In addition, the airline similarly rostered the Pilot to carry out operational flights when obviously his medical certificate had expired.

“Therefore, the airline and the Pilot violated Parts 8.4.1.5(a), 8.14.1.2(1), 8.14.9.4(a) (1) and 8.2.1.8(a) (24) of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) 2015. Consequently, in accordance with IS 1.3.3. (1)(14) of the Nig.CARs,2015,the airline and Pilot were fined N32 million and N1.5 million being moderate civil penalty for the violation,” the statement said.

Details later…