Less than two weeks after a Sikorsky SK76 helicopter operated by Eastwind Aviation crashed in Port Harcourt, the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) on Wednesday called on the Federal Government to include a pilot in the investigation panel.

National President of NAAPE, Abednego Galadima, argued that the inclusion of pilots in the investigation of an air crash was a global practice.

Galadima also urged the federal government to upgrade emergency response and rescue infrastructure in the aviation sector because the association’s findings revealed that they were below par.

His words: “Without preempting the investigation that is ongoing, we want to urge the government to ensure that infrastructure for emergency rescue and response during accidents is top notch. From what we have gathered, it wasn’t optimal.

“We also want to call on government to ensure that no stone is left unturned in investigating to see to the fact that every cause, both remote and distant cause of this accident is identified, the aim is to forestall future occurrences.

“It is important that while we await what the NSIB will come with, we also want to call on government as it is done in other climes that NAAPE be given an opportunity to have a representative on the investigation panel so that we can participate in the investigation from the beginning to the end of the exercise.”

On November 24, a Sikorsky helicopter en-route from Port Harcourt Military Base, DNPM, to the NUIMANTAN oil rig suffered a crash that resulted in the death of NAAPE’s Vice President, Captain Yakubu Dukas.