The Federal Government on Sunday said that it had
complied with the ban of the Falcon 7X plane, one of the presidential
jets it recently acquired from Dessault Aviation of France.
The plane is one of the Falcon 7X aircraft stopped from flying globally by European Aviation Safety Agency on Thursday due to a recent safety development.
The government, said in a statement made available to our correspondent on Sunday by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, that the jet which flew into the country about 70 days ago had been voluntarily grounded.
The statement by the spokesman of NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, said, “the NCAA has fully complied with the latest Emergency Airworthiness Directive issued by the EASA on Falcon7x aircraft type.
“It is pertinent to point out that this EAD affected all Falcon 7x worldwide and the owner of the affected aircraft type in Nigeria has already grounded the one in its fleet.
“There is therefore no cause for alarm as the authority is on top of it and is not relenting in its efforts to ensure that air travel is safer in Nigeria.”
The Falcon 7X has a sticker price of about $50m, depending on cabin features. But in March 2011, the Presidency took delivery of one after paying $51m (about N7.65bn) for it.
The Federal Executive Council had on August 12, 2010 approved $102m for the purchase of two Falcon 7x and $53.3m for one Gulfstream G550 aircraft to beef up the Presidential Air Fleet.
The second Falcon 7X, it was learnt then, was expected to arrive the country during the second quarter of this year.
The grounding of the Dassault’s Falcon 7X executive jets came after one of them encountered an in-flight anomaly that could have caused the pilots to lose control.
EASA directive said that the jet “experienced an uncontrolled pitch trim runaway during descent but that crew succeeded in recovering a stable situation and performed an uneventful landing.”
The agency added that an analysis of the plane’s Digital Flight Data Recorder and Fault History Database confirmed the fault. It stated that the cause of the pitch trim runaway couldn’t be explained.
“This condition, if occurring again, could lead to a loss of control of the aeroplane,” EASA said.
However, EASA, a Cologne, Germany-based safety agency, said in its EAD that the decision to halt all flights by the Falcon7x aircraft came after a request by Dassault, the manufacturers of the planes in Paris.
“This airworthiness directive is considered to be an interim measure pending the outcome of the investigations currently being carried out by the manufacturer,” it said.
One of the Falcon X jets was en route Malaysia from Europe with no passengers on board when the pitch trim runaway fault occurred, Dassault spokesman, Stephane Fort, told Dow Jones Newswires on the by the telephone on Friday.
Fort, who said the decision to ground the aircraft was a precautionary measure, added that Dassault had sent a team of technicians to Malaysia to identify the cause of the problem.
“Our priority is the safety of our passengers and our aircraft. We took this decision as a precaution because our first priority is the total safety of our aircraft and their passengers,” he said.
The Falcon 7X was introduced in 2007 and is designed to fly 5,950 nautical miles with at least eight passengers. There are 112 of the aircraft in service.
By Oyetunji Abioye Courtesy Of: Punch
The plane is one of the Falcon 7X aircraft stopped from flying globally by European Aviation Safety Agency on Thursday due to a recent safety development.
The government, said in a statement made available to our correspondent on Sunday by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, that the jet which flew into the country about 70 days ago had been voluntarily grounded.
The statement by the spokesman of NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, said, “the NCAA has fully complied with the latest Emergency Airworthiness Directive issued by the EASA on Falcon7x aircraft type.
“It is pertinent to point out that this EAD affected all Falcon 7x worldwide and the owner of the affected aircraft type in Nigeria has already grounded the one in its fleet.
“There is therefore no cause for alarm as the authority is on top of it and is not relenting in its efforts to ensure that air travel is safer in Nigeria.”
The Falcon 7X has a sticker price of about $50m, depending on cabin features. But in March 2011, the Presidency took delivery of one after paying $51m (about N7.65bn) for it.
The Federal Executive Council had on August 12, 2010 approved $102m for the purchase of two Falcon 7x and $53.3m for one Gulfstream G550 aircraft to beef up the Presidential Air Fleet.
The second Falcon 7X, it was learnt then, was expected to arrive the country during the second quarter of this year.
The grounding of the Dassault’s Falcon 7X executive jets came after one of them encountered an in-flight anomaly that could have caused the pilots to lose control.
EASA directive said that the jet “experienced an uncontrolled pitch trim runaway during descent but that crew succeeded in recovering a stable situation and performed an uneventful landing.”
The agency added that an analysis of the plane’s Digital Flight Data Recorder and Fault History Database confirmed the fault. It stated that the cause of the pitch trim runaway couldn’t be explained.
“This condition, if occurring again, could lead to a loss of control of the aeroplane,” EASA said.
However, EASA, a Cologne, Germany-based safety agency, said in its EAD that the decision to halt all flights by the Falcon7x aircraft came after a request by Dassault, the manufacturers of the planes in Paris.
“This airworthiness directive is considered to be an interim measure pending the outcome of the investigations currently being carried out by the manufacturer,” it said.
One of the Falcon X jets was en route Malaysia from Europe with no passengers on board when the pitch trim runaway fault occurred, Dassault spokesman, Stephane Fort, told Dow Jones Newswires on the by the telephone on Friday.
Fort, who said the decision to ground the aircraft was a precautionary measure, added that Dassault had sent a team of technicians to Malaysia to identify the cause of the problem.
“Our priority is the safety of our passengers and our aircraft. We took this decision as a precaution because our first priority is the total safety of our aircraft and their passengers,” he said.
The Falcon 7X was introduced in 2007 and is designed to fly 5,950 nautical miles with at least eight passengers. There are 112 of the aircraft in service.
By Oyetunji Abioye Courtesy Of: Punch
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