NCAA clarifies airworthiness status of crashed helicopter 

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has clarified the airworthiness status of a recently crashed helicopter with registration marks 5N-BQG before the crash.

In some reports, it was stated that the aircraft was initially registered in the year 2004 as 5N-BGN with Aero Contractors after which it was deregistered to Canada in the year 2009.

The reports further stated that the aircraft registration was cancelled in September 2018 after it was “presumably scrapped”. Reports were concluded with a question of how the Helicopter was moved to Nigeria and registered as 5N-BQG before the crash.

In response to the reports, NCAA stated that based on its records, the aircraft can be tracked not only by their registration marks but also by their Manufacturer Serial Number (MSN), adding that the 5N-BQG S76C+Helicopter has its MSN as 760486 while the 5N-BGN S76C+ Helicopter has its MSN as 760468.

Chris Najomo, the acting director general, NCAA stated that the  S76C+ Helicopter with registration marks 5N-BGN and MSN:760468 were initially registered at the age of seven Years on the 15th of July 2004 with Aero Contractors as the operator and Capital Aviation Services B.V. as the registered owner.

Najomo said the registration was re-issued on the 13th of December, 2006when the ownership of the helicopter changed to RBS Aerospace Limited.

“The S76C+ Helicopter with registration marks 5N-BGN and MSN:760468 was de-registered by Aero Contractors on the 18th February 2009 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 DEC.2012 with Nestoil Plc as the registered operator and owner.

“The registration was re-issued on the 13th of July, 2021 as a result of the change of operator to Omni-Blu Aviation Ltd and the 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 Ltd 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 Ltd. By this action, Eastwind Aviation Logistics Services Ltd became the registered operator and owner of the helicopter,” the NCAA DG explained in the statement.

He noted that the reports making rounds could not clearly differentiate the records of the recently crashed Eastwind Aviation Logistics Services Ltd S76C+Helicopter with registration mark 5N-BQG and MSN: 760486 and the Aero Contractors re-registered Helicopter with registration marks 5N-BGN and MSN: 760468.