Crashed helicopter: NCAA counters online reports with registration, airworthiness records

Sade Williams/Business a.m.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has provided some explanations on the registration and airworthiness status of the crashed Sikorsky helicopter belonging to Eastwind Aviation.

Chris Najomo, the acting director general of the NCAA, in a statement, said the Authority was responding to a ‘false’ report on the matter by an online medium, which  interchanged the status of another helicopter with the crashed one.

The NCAA, which noted that aircraft can be tracked not only by their registration marks but also by their Manufacturer Serial Number (MSN), explained that the 5N-BQG S76C+Helicopter has its MSN as 760486 while the 5N-BGN S76C+ Helicopter has its MSN as 760468.

It stated further that the S76C+ Helicopter with registration marks 5N-BGN and MSN:760468 was initially registered at the age of seven years on the 15th July, 2004 with Aero Contractors as the operator and Capital Aviation Services B.V. as the registered owner. The registration was reissued on the 13th of December, 2006 when the ownership of the helicopter changed to RBS Aerospace Limited.

It further clarified that the S76C+ Helicopter with registration marks 5N-BGN and MSN:760468 was deregistered by Aero Contractors on the 18th February, 2009 to Transport Canada. The S76C+ Helicopter with registration marks 5N-BQG and MSN:760486 was initially registered at the age of 14 years on the 10th of December 2012 with Nestoil Plc as the registered operator and owner. The registration was reissued on the 13th of July, 2021 as a result of change of operator to OMNI-BLU Aviation LTD. and Ownership change to DANBA Associates Limited. A further amendment of the registration was done on the 30th of May, 2022 when the ownership changed to EASTWIND AVIATION LOGISTICS SERVICES LIMITED while maintaining OMNI-BLU as the operator.

“The final amendment to the registration was on the 27th of February, 2024 when the operator of the S76C+ Helicopter with registration marks 5N-BQG and MSN: 760486 was changed to EASTWIND AVIATION LOGISTICS SERVICES LIMITED. By this action, EASTWIND AVIATION LOGISTICS SERVICES LIMITED became the registered operator and owner of the helicopter.

“Based on the following data from our records, it is clear that Sahara Reporters could not clearly differentiate the records of the recently crashed EASTWIND AVIATION LOGISTICS SERVICES LIMITED S76C+Helicopter with registration mark 5N-BQG and MSN: 760486 and the AERO CONTRACTORS DE-REGISTERED S76C+ Helicopter with registration marks 5N-BGN and MSN: 760468,” the statement reads.

The online medium, which NCAA is  disproving, had reported that the helicopter was initially registered in the year 2004 as 5N-BGN with Aero Contractors after which it was deregistered to Canada in the year 2009.

It added that the aircraft registration was cancelled in September 2018 after it was “presumably scrapped”.