After suspending Max Air, NCAA begins investigation of fuel marketers

After suspending the operations of all Boeing 737 aircraft in the fleet of Max Air, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), On Thursday, commenced investigation into the activities of aviation fuel marketers over alleged of Aviation fuel.

Speaking to aviation journalists on Thursday night, the director general of NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, said the NCAA has identified three aviation fuel suppliers for investigation in the contamination saga.

He also insisted that the airlines and the Captain are responsible for the fuel that are discharged into their aircraft before taking off from a particular airport.

He said, “All these are in the manuals. It is the responsibility of the captain, NCAA staff can’t be at all fuel stations, we don’t have enough staff to go into all stations, it is the responsibility of the airline.”

Speaking on fuel contamination, Nuhu, said three fuel companies were identified in the course of its investigation into the circumstances that led to contamination in the commodity supplied to Max Air within the week.

“Yes, it’s true, the operations of Max Air B737 fleet have been suspended for a series of issues they’ve had over a couple of times. We did have a meeting with Max Air about a month ago after the landing incident in Abuja, and a lot of issues were trashed out.

As you are all aware, several days ago, there was a video that went viral in regards to the issue they had on ground in Yola where supposedly, drops of water were removed from the aircraft.

Certainly, during aircraft fuelling, they had water in it but we do not know the amount because we were not there. That same day, when the report reached me, I called for a Zoom meeting with my folks, we spoke and that particular aircraft was grounded.

“The grounding was to ensure it is safe to resume normal passenger operations because when the fuel enters the tanks, it goes through the engines, it can do damage to the fuel controlling it, there are a lot of things that can be spoilt, so we have to be sure they take the appropriate maintenance procedure to ensure the continued airworthiness of the aircraft. The second aircraft had landing issues, it was supposedly fixed by Aero contractors in Lagos.

“We have started the investigation and we have identified three aviation fuel companies they took fuel from that day. We will mete out sanctions where necessary. We are going to hold a meeting with the regulatory commission in other to ensure compliance with standards,” he said.

He revealed that two fuel companies had, some time ago, been banned from supplying fuel to aircraft in Abuja over contamination and non-compliance with standards.

“The aircraft involved was grounded immediately pending investigation, we acted immediately after it happened, and the crew were interrogated the following day, there are so many things that happened that are not made public, I am only supposed to speak when we have concluded and have affirmative action,” he added.

The NCAA boss equally noted that they took immediate action on the incident on that day, saying it does not relax in carrying out its oversight functions as some quarters were speculating.

At the Zoom meeting with journalists, he said Max Air’s B737 operations were grounded following a series of incidents it recorded, with the major one being fuel contamination of the main fuel tanks of aircraft B737-300, with registration Marks 5N-MHM, leading to the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) shut down on ground Yola Airport on July 7, 2023.

Nuhu further explained that the aircraft involved was grounded immediately while the crew were interrogated the next day.