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'We are dealing with human lives'
30/11/2007 14:01 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The SA Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says the suspension of its approval of Nationwide's in-house aircraft maintenance organisation (AMO) was unavoidable.
The CAA grounded the airline from midnight on Thursday, CAA chief executive officer Zakes Myeza said on Friday.
It also suspended the certificates of airworthiness of Nationwide's fleet of 16 aircraft - 12 Boeing 737-200s, three Boeing 727s and one Boeing 767.
"It was unavoidable," Myeza said at a press conference at CAA headquarters in Midrand.
"We cannot afford to be reckless on this one because we are dealing with human lives," added CAA legal executive manager executive Nheri Magoai.
The inconvenience might well be to the benefit of the airline's passengers, he said.
Licence renewal process
CAA aircraft safety executive manager Obert Chakarisa said the grounding resulted from its consideration of the airline's application for the annual renewal of its AMO licence.
Instead of approving the licence, the CAA issued an interim renewal until December 20, conditional on answers to maintenance concerns.
It was coincidental that, during this audit process, an engine fell off a Nationwide Boeing 737-200 at Cape Town International Airport on November 7.
The Johannesburg-bound Boeing 737 lost one of its two engines during take-off from Cape Town airport, yet managed to land safely half an hour later.
The airline failed to adequately implement three airworthiness directives issued in response to the incident, said Chakarisa.
These included requirements issued by the manufacturer after four similar incidents in the United States, which called for, among others, the refitting of certain bolts on the engine mounting and the overhauling of certain other components.
Pirate parts
While the CAA would not indicate whether pirate parts were found to have been used on the Nationwide aircraft, it did disclose that the bolts fitted were "untraceable".
Chakarisa would not comment on whether this type of problem arose from the emerging phenomenon of low-cost flying.
"They (Nationwide) were 100% aware of what had to be undertaken; what the airworthiness directives were; what parts had to be replaced," said Myeza.
Magoai said Nationwide would have to prove compliance and the airworthiness of each aircraft verified before the suspension was lifted. He would give no indication of how long this could take.
Should Nationwide fail to comply, its licence could be revoked altogether.
Asked whether the CAA had given any thought to the possibility of the grounding putting Nationwide out of business, Magoai said: "We do sympathise with them. It's just an unfortunate event. We hoped we could avoid it."
Chakarisa said this was not the first time the CAA had grounded an airline.
The much smaller airlines Nel Air and Execu Aerospace were grounded over maintenance concerns and two more small airlines would be suspended in the next week, he said, but would not name them.
- SAPA
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