The operations of three oil companies are being looked into by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) about the incident when tainted fuel was discovered in one of Max Air’s planes.
The agency’s Director General, Captain Musa Nuhu, revealed that three aviation fuel suppliers had been found throughout its inquiry into the event that occurred a few days ago during a Zoom discussion with aviation reporters on Thursday night.
The most recent incident, which resulted in the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) being shut down on the ground at Yola Airport on July 7, 2023, was the contamination of the main fuel tanks of a B737-300 with registration Marks: 5N-MHM. As a result, the agency shut down Max Air’s B737 operations.
According to Nuhu, the concerned aircraft was immediately grounded, and the crew was questioned the following day.
He said that two fuel suppliers were recently barred from Abuja due to contamination and standards violations, but he insisted that it was also the airline’s and the captain-in-command’s responsibility to check the fuel before departing from a specific airport.
“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 with regards to the issue they had on the 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 an investigation and we have identified three aviation fuel companies that took fuel from that day. We will meet our sanctions where necessary. We are going to hold a meeting with the regulatory commission in other to ensure compliance with standards.”
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