NCCA Grounds Bristow Fleet Operations In Nigeria

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has suspended Bristow Helicopter’s aircraft type SikorskyS-76 from further operations in Nigeria due to the successive crash of the aircraft type on the coastal waters of Lagos.

This was made known to the media at the NCAA Annex, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA), Lagos.

The Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Muhtar Usman confirmed that the entire Bristow fleet of SikorskyS-76C++ had to be grounded till further notice pending when the authority will carry out a full investigations.

It will be recalled that within the last six months, Bristow Helicopters have had successive air accidents on the Lagos coaster waters with the aircraft type.

The latest, on Wednesday 3rd February, with 9 offshore workers and 2 crew members, the helicopter ditched into the sea approximately 75 nautical miles off the Nigerian coast. All personnel on-board were rescued and accounted for.

Bristow in a statement, said they will continue to cooperate fully with the NCAA and the Nigerian Accident Investigation Bureau (NAIB) in its investigation on the incident. Bristow has since comply with the directives of NCCA.