Plane accidents occur quite regularly but rarely do Kenyans get to hear about them.
An investigation by the Star has unearthed details revealing a sector that keeps crucial information top secret to keep spotless the image of Kenya's civil aviation, maintain revenue flow and wash away any insurance queries.
National Assembly Committee on Transport member Ayub Savula (Lugari MP) told the Star that 27 air accidents have taken place since January 2018.
“We want order in the aviation industry since these accidents are showing us that it is not okay in the sector with high risks,” he said on the phone.
Foreign objects on runways
Officials and stakeholders privy to confidential Aircraft Accident Investigation Department reports say some runways have potholes and foreign objects, which damage aircraft engines and control surfaces such as elevators and rudders.
“These control surfaces are critical in supporting aircraft stability,” an official said.
PrideInn Group of Hotels MD Hasnain Noorani in a statement on Friday said the poor management of the civil aviation industry compelled the UK to issue a travel warning to its citizens over the use of planes at Wilson Airport in Nairobi.
The advisory was issued after a number of mishaps at the airport.
“We are deeply concerned that other countries could follow suit from the UK travel advisory in what could seriously hurt the travel and hospitality business in the city,” the tourism industry stakeholders’ spokesperson said.
"Wilson Airport’s bad reputation is hurting the city travel and hospitality industry."
The Star could not get a formal statement from the Kenya Pilots Association as they have been gagged by the courts from speaking to the media until their case against KQ’s plan to hire foreign pilots is determined.
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said they would get back to the reporter between 2.30pm and 3pm yesterday but had not done so by press time.
“The airport, which is mainly used for domestic and regional flights as well as charters, is in need of serious attention. We are concerned about its state following several incidences,” Noorani said.
"We earn from accommodating and transferring guests from the Kenyan airports. Should they not be looked at, this will hurt our business through a severe decrease in bed occupancies within Nairobi city."
On July 27, 2019, the Star has established, locally owned aircraft Dash 8-Q100 delayed take-off at Manda Airport in Lamu for 30 minutes after its wheel got stuck in a pothole on the runway.
At Moi International Airport in Mombasa, one runway (15/33) is in such bad state that it was declared unserviceable and closed permanently. Half of "the approach lights are not working”.
The pilot command departed on 11 April with fourteen passengers and landed uneventfully at El Barde. While on take-off roll, the horizontal stabilizer was apparently impacted by a stone. He proceeded to bring down the aircraft to a stop, shut down the engine and disembark the passengers.
Despite concerns raised by aircraft operators and citizens, the Kenya Airports Authority has failed to meet aviation stakeholders or address their concerns.
“At Wilson Airport, cases of aircraft getting stuck in potholes are also rampant, with aircraft regularly having to be towed out of potholes,” an operator at the facility said.
“Indeed, this trend is repeated in many airstrips and minor airports all across Kenya. The only airport KAA and KCAA care about is Jomo Kenyatta International Airport because that is the main airport.”
The operators blame the authorities for failing to hold unscrupulous operators accountable for operational deficiencies.
“You also find that the bird scouts are reluctant to ensure the runway is clear,” a Fokker captain in a local aircraft said.
“Most commercial aircraft in the country have two engines and that is how most people have survived. When the first engine goes off, the second one increases its capacity by 25 percent.”
An accident report seen by the Star describes an incident where an aircraft was damaged by loose stones on the runway.
“The pilot command departed on 11 April with fourteen passengers and landed uneventfully at El Barde. While on take-off roll, the horizontal stabilizer was apparently impacted by a stone,” the report before the Transport committee in Parliament says.
“He proceeded to bring down the aircraft to a stop, shut down the engine and disembark the passengers.”
The Star has established some aircraft are not physically examined before registration thanks to the close relationship some aviation companies enjoy with KCAA officials.
The authority has also been accused of commercialising the examination process of trainee pilots.
“The authority charges Sh20,000 for the KCAA Commercial Pilot Licence exam. Instead of being examined on the commercial pilot licence as per the curriculum they gave us, you are given the superior European Air Transport Pilot Licence Exam so that you fail and repeat many times,” an instructor said.
"It is like doing a degree but you are examined for masters. The failure rate is very high so that you pay the Sh 20,000 many times.”
Pilots have also raised concerns over the large number of trainees at the control towers who give conflicting directions, putting passengers and aircraft crew at risk.
Another concern that has come up is that KCAA officials allow operators to fly aircraft despite deficiencies within their companies.
This was highlighted by the Air Accident Investigation Department in the Fly-SAX flight 102 crash report.
“A review of KCAA surveillance activities revealed that the aviation safety inspectors had performed numerous inspections and repeatedly noted deficiencies within the company,” said the Transport ministry in a report on the July 6, 2018, crash in the Aberdares that killed all 10 people on board.
“Although KCAA inspectors were providing surveillance and noting discrepancies within the company's procedures and processes, KCAA did not hold the operator sufficiently accountable for correcting the types of noted deficiencies.”
The report noted that a deadly mix of events led to the death of all the occupants.
It added that the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is served by Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR), Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR), and Surface Surveillance Radar (ASR). The PSR was not serviceable at the time of the accident.
PSR is meant to sense objects by tracking reflected radio waves while the SSR detects and measures the position of aircraft by communicating with a device onboard aircraft called transponders. This allows it to gather more precise data such as bearing and distance but also requests additional information from the aircraft itself such as its identity and altitude.
“The PSR system has not been operational since October 2, 2017. The ASR was operating, but relying on only one channel because of a faulty antenna motor number one channel,” the report said.
The Star has established that a radar system failure on July 27, 2019, forced planes to be diverted from landing at the JKIA.
Accident reports, which KCAA is supposed to publish every two years, accuse the authority of negligence, being ineffective and some of its officials being compromised.
Stakeholders say the authority has failed to publish reports to enable them to learn and correct previous mistakes.
“Enforcement Information System records indicated that KCAA inspectors observed multiple incidences of the operator's noncompliance related to both CoA (airworthiness) and AOC (aircraft operators certificate) applications; however, the unsatisfactory issues were left unclosed with no action taken,” the ministry report added.
A number of flying schools, it was found, tamper with the tachometer, which shows the distance covered, to cut down on service costs. There are also concerns that licensed engineers move to lucrative jobs leaving unlicensed engineers to take over instructors' jobs at the schools.
"Private developers have also grabbed airport land, which has left many runways still short," a pilot said.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya