We Don't Charge For Aircraft Accident Investigations Delegated To Us- BAGAIA

Commissioner, Banjul Accord Group Accident Investigation Agency ( BAGAIA) Engineer Charles Irikefe Erhueh has stated that the Regional Accident Investigation Organisation (RAIO) does not charge for investigating accidents it is called on to probe as it is against the statutes of its formation.

This is just as he has reiterated that the challenge of fund remittances from yearly subscriptions by member states hinders some of its planned projects outlined for execution.

He made this clarification at the International Accident Investigation Forum which was held at the Singapore Aviation Academy from May 18-20, 2022 while responding to Director, Transport Safety Investigation Bureau ( TSIB) Singapore, Mr Chong Chow Wah stressing that the agency was set up by the International Civil Aviation Organisation ( ICAO), not as a revenue-generating agency but a safety inclined one.

Although a mere cost of logistics would be borne by the state of occurrence should they invite the RAIO to conduct investigations on any accident.

He said, “No, this is a public service. BAGAIA is not formed to charge countries they help investigate accidents. For example, the accident involving Cavok Airlines CVK 7087 AN-74TK-100 Aircraft registered Ur-CKC, which occurred at Sao Tome International Airport in 2017 and delegated to BAGAIA even though it was not a member, but BAGAIA responded to that investigation in collaboration with the Nigeria AIB without any payment from Sao Tome and the investigation has been concluded and released.

Also on whose responsibility it is to release a final accident report of any investigation delegated to BAGAIA, citing the same Sao Tome still, Irikefe said that the report was released in the country of occurrence that delegated the investigation.

However, after the release, Sao Tome has no independent agency responsible for the investigation and AIB-NIGERIA later published the report on their Website as BAGAIA at that time had no website too.

He however said, “But Currently BAGAIA has their website and kudos to AIB-NIGERIA that design and funded the development of the BAGAIA website that is currently operational.”

Speaking further during his presentation, the BAGAIA Commissioner stressed the importance of training stating that in collaboration with partners like Instituto de Prevencao an Investigacao de Acidentes Aeronauticos e Maritimos (IPIAAM) it has trained no fewer than 26 participants in a bid to groom a generation that will take over from the experienced but ageing workforce.

He also said a safety workshop was organised with the cooperation of IPIAAM, African Union( AU) and the European Union( EU) under the EU – Aviation Safety for Africa ( EU-ASA) where 65 participants were trained from various regions.

Also at the session was Professor Graham Braithwaite the Director of Transport Systems. Professor of Safety & Accident Investigation from Cranfield University spoke on New aerospace technology challenges for investigators.

“There is a lot of change coming and I want to talk about what some of us see from a research and development point of view”.