Stringent aviation rules, lazy engineers endanger local airspace

Lousy and substandard routine maintenance of aircrafts by engineers and skewed aviation laws are to blame for the unsafe planes plying local routes in South Sudan.

The Director of Juba International Airport Kur Kuol Ajou lamented that engineers charged with routine maintenance of the aircrafts, serving in the local flights, have failed to meet the international requirements of servicing.

Apart from this, Mr Ajuo pointed out that the country’s airspace still is being managed from Khartoum, Sudan, a situation which makes it difficult to conduct thorough audit of the aircrafts because everything is being controlled by remote-based engineers.

He said: “What we do here is to just check on the documentation of those aircrafts if it is valid. There is nothing that we can do [if we find faults] because we are not authorised to make any registration according to international civil aviation.

“We are depending on the registrations of those particular countries where those aircrafts come from. For instance, ST of Sudan, 5Y of Kenya, ET of Ethiopia and other countries who have their registration codes otherwise we will be in position to handle our airspace well.”

Audit launched

Ajuo’s revelation comes after a recent shocking mechanical malfunction in which a cargo plane belonging to Antonov An-26 flights dropped its propeller on the way to Juba International Airport.

He revealed that a civil aviation authority committee had been assembled to investigate the incident and make the findings public.

“The committee of technical people has been formed to investigate and make reviews on the documents of Antonov An-26 flights after propeller fell mid-air including other commercial aircrafts that have been grounded at Juba International Airport,” he revealed.  

He said the committee will not only delve in the May 2021 incident but will make its research deeper and extensive to inform the public on what happened with the airlines whose flights have so far been grounded.

Not dropping the gaurd

According to the airport boss, the South Sudan department of the safety is following all the rules and regulations, but because most of these aircrafts are coming from different countries; it only views documents of those planes according their own registration.

“Our people follow according to the documentation of particular country where the plane was registered. [This is] because we have not been given the official registration number by the international civil aviation organization so that we can have our mark on the aircrafts,” he added

“As a result, most of the things are done in their respective countries special validity of the documents of those planes.”

He added that all the Antonov and commercial aircrafts have been grounded except UN Antonov and Military.

According to him, most of the Antonov planes are registered in Ukraine and others are from Burindi, Congo, Sudan and among other few countries.

“Each maintenance project requires timely and specific communication, efficient use of resources, and utilisation of the right equipment in order to avoid damages,” Kuol added.

He said all aircraft follow must a continuous and rigorous program of inspection and maintenance after entering sewervice.

“Different organisations have different guidelines and requirements for aircraft maintenance. But the intrinsic idea remains the same: at any point on the ground or in the air the aircraft must be technically safe to fly.”

However, City Review made an effort to reach to the Civil Aviation Authority for more clarification but failed as the director did not respond immediately as he claimed to be busy.

On May 21,2021, the South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) temporarily banned all airlines in the country from operating pending further investigations and instructions accept UN and Military aircrafts, the Antonov An-26.

In Match this year, at least 10 people, including the two pilots, died when a plane crashed at an airstrip in Jonglei state.

Last year, in Aug, at least 17 people were killed and one survived after a cargo plane crashed after takeoff from Juba Airport.