In recent months, Africa’s skies have been under intense scrutiny as a series of fatal crashes have raised questions over pilot training, regulatory enforcement, maintenance standards, weather preparedness and other key issues pertaining to the safety of continent’s aviation industry.
On August 6, a Harbin Z-9EH military helicopter used by ‘s air force slammed into a forested mountainside in the Ashanti region, , including Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah, Environment and Science Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed as well as other senior political and security figures.
Just one day later, this tragedy was overshadowed by another crash, when a Cessna air ambulance operated by AMREF Flying Doctors in crashed into a residential area near Nairobi shortly after takeoff, claiming six lives — four on board and two on the ground.
Earlier in the year, a chartered Beechcraft 1900D carrying oil workers from ‘s Unity State to Juba in January went down just minutes after departure from the GPOC Unity Airstrip in Rubkona County, .
In June last year, lost and former First Lady Patricia Shanil Muluzi to another fatal crash when a Malawi Defence Force Dornier 228 plane plunged into the Chikangawa Forest Reserve en route to Mzuzu, with a total of nine fatalities.
Meanwhile, there are growing reports of severe turbulence incidents which have left multiple passengers injured during civilian flights, which have only intensified the attention that is being paid to what it happening in African skies.
Human error — and hubris
Industry experts say the machines themselves are not the problem, stressing that human error, systemic negligence, an insufficient safety culture, and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns are the factors that, over time, have resulted in this worrying track record.
“Airplanes are faithful machines. They are built to serve. They are built so well that [they’re] loaded with a lot of redundant components in such a way that before anything goes wrong, the airplane faithfully tells the pilots and the engineers at every point in time,” Nigerian aviation consultant Godwin Ike told DW, highlighting the abundance of backup systems in modern planes and helicopters.
In his view, aircraft will typically only “fall off the skies because human operators can be very unfaithful and more often than not, horribly dishonest.”
According to Ike, there’s a certain element of human pride that can still get in the way of otherwise perfectly operational aircraft: Ike insists that taking simple actions like refusing take-off when automated systems detect a fault can make all the difference between life and death, adding that following through on regular maintenance schedules is also just as important.
“Turn that plane in for that maintenance that is due. In that way, you can be guaranteed usage without any issues,” he explain, adding that this is not a form of weakness but safety in action,
Mind the weather
For Felicity Ahafianyo, the head of Ghana’s Central Analysis and Forecast Office, the greater danger is less about preparedness and reaction on the ground but rather in the skies: she warns that climate change has had an effect on weather patterns in the higher levels of the athmosphere across the globe, making certain hazards less predictable.
“When it comes to aviation industry, weather is a key factor. … The first part has to do with the convective activities. That’s the formation of thunderstorm clouds. Another one has to do with visibility. Another one has to do with the wind shear. Some areas are getting more rainfall more than usual, and some are getting less than the usual,” she noted.
“Apart from the convective activities that affect the aircraft operations, there is clear weather turbulence or clear air turbulence, which also affects aircraft operations.”
Ahafianyo’s team is in charge of providing helicopters with various pieces of information that are crucial for the safe and proper operation of aircraft, such as “the vertical profile of the atmosphere from flight level 600 up to 12,000 feet high in the sky” as well as “the tropical boundary locations for the day” and “if there could be any shears that may disturb their operations.”
But not every pilot listens, she underlines: “I was once an aviation forecaster, and could see that some pilots don’t care about the weather,” she said.
Godwin Ike agrees; If there is a persistent problem in the skies that is related to the weather conditions, pilots should just head to “the nearest airport, make contact on radio with the airport, and announce that they want to do an emergency landing,” he explains.
However, he adds that by the time some pilots agree to follow this standard protocol, it might already be too late — especially in such cases where they’re transporting precious cargo such government ministers and other influential leaders, whose time may appear to be more precious than anything else.
Africa’s negligence of international standards
The two analysts highlight that the recent events that have befallen Africa’s aviation sector also expose deeper political and regulatory failings.
Weak government oversight, an inconsistent safety culture, and growing economic pressures from rising fuel prices to the high cost of obtaining spare parts, all combine to creating ever-growing risks.
Ike says while the issue of human error in the cockpit must be addressed, the problem of human negligence on the ground might even be greater.
Until Africa’s aviation industry catches up to the highest air traffic standards, Ike believes that pilots must be told to treat every mechanical alert and each weather warning as an instruction, not as a suggestion.
International aviation bodies meanwhile have also repeatedly urged African governments to strengthen the enforcement oftheir safety standards and to better adapt to growing climate volatility, as each crash further erodes public trust.
Edited by: Sertan Sanderson
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