Antrak Air stresses commitment to maintenance and safety

Antrak Air, a domestic airline operator said on Thursday that it had never compromised on maintenance of its aircrafts and its commitment to safety was not in doubt.

“The safety records of Antrak Air over the period have never been compromised and stringent safety procedures are followed which has enabled us to pass many international safety audits.”

The international safety audits include “HART” aviation safety audits since inception of the airline to date, Antrak Air stated in a statement to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

Antrak Air Management said maintenance and safety was of paramount concern to the company and Ghana Civil Aviation Authority was also stringent on their oversight of all airlines including Ghanaian airlines.

The statement said in addition, Antrak Air subjected itself to external independent audits as well, which were more stringent.

It said despite this, “Aircrafts are machines and mechanical failures are a possibility and at times unpredictable”.

The statement said maintenance of “Our aircraft is not done independently; Antrak Air has technical partners in France who assist in the maintenance of the Aircraft.

“They are charged with tracking all components on the aircraft and are in constant contact with us and the manufacturer to ensure all maintenance, updates and modifications are done at the right time.

“Our engineers are all fully licensed ATR engineers with many years experience and have the requisite qualifications to do so in line with maintenance on the aircraft.

“The manuals governing the maintenance of the aircraft are all approved by the GCAA and are internationally accepted. We strictly adhere to the guidelines set out in the ATR manufacturers’ maintenance manual.”

Outlining the facts of the Antrak Air Flight O4 322 from Tamale to Accra, Management said on board were 33 passengers.

The flight crew went through all normal start up procedures after boarding, during which a technical problem developed and the pilots became aware of it and shutdown the engine.

The statement said the flight crew then announced to the passengers to disembark after making a visual inspection on the number two engine, which was unserviceable hence the need for an engineer to rectify the problem.

It said the passengers were not aware the aircraft had developed a technical fault until the crew informed them.

“The aircraft was not about to take off, in fact, it had not even started taxiing and doors were still open, awaiting authorisation from the Captain,” it said.

It said modern aircraft designs were such that there were redundancies built in and they were capable of flying on one engine if need be.

“All our pilots undergo continuous training twice a year to keep up to date with all safety and emergency procedures under the supervision of Ghana Civil Aviation Authority approved instructors.

“At no point is an emergency declared and the situation was not managed professionally and controlled by the flight crew as they have been trained to do,” it said.

This, the management said had been confirmed in the official statement by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority.**