Left to right: EASA Senior Intl Cooperation Officer Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Coordinator,Yves Koning, Commissioner AIB-NIGERIA, Engr. Akin Olateru, EASA Director International Cooperation; Director of Stratey and Management of EASA, Luc Tytgat, BAGAIA Commissioner, Engr. Charles Irikefe Erhueh; Commissioner AAIB-GHANA, Mr. Prempeh Akwasi Agyeibi and EASA Safety Investigation Section Manager; Mr. Mario Colavita in the preparation for the ENCASIA Plenary held on October 11and 12, 2022 at the Belgian Safety Investigation Authority, Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport, Brussels, Belgium.
The European Aviation Safety Agency ( EASA) through the European Network of Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authorities (ENCASIA) has expressed its readiness to share the tenets of the European Co-ordination Centre for Accident and Incident Reporting Systems (ECCAIRS) with the Banjul Accord Group Accident Investigation Agency (BAGAIA) once the modalities are finalized by the International Civil Aviation Organisation ( ICAO).
This was made known at the ENCASIA Plenary which held on October 11 and 12, 2022 at the Belgian Safety Investigation Authority, Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport, Brussels, Belgium where a BAGAIA delegation led by the BAGAIA Commissioner, Engineer Charles Irikefe Erhueh, in company of AIB-Nigeria Commissioner, Engr. Akin Olateru and Commissioner AAIB-Ghana, Mr. Prempeh Akwasi Agyeibi who attended as observers.
According to EASA Senior International Cooperation Officer Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Coordinator,Yves Koning who responded to the special requests by BAGAIA delegation, said consultations with ICAO on the modalities to implement ECCAIRS in other regions outside Europe is ongoing.
Koning who appreciated the requests especially that of the ECCAIRS said,”Yes it already being implemented in the Europe, but they are finalising with ICAO on the modalities to implement it outside Europe. Once that is done it will now be extended on train the trainer.
ECCAIRS is a cooperative network of civil aviation authorities and safety investigation authorities in Europe, a project being managed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (DG JRC) on request of the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) and in close co-operation with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
The ECCAIRS mission is to aid national and European transport entities in the collection, sharing and analysis of safety information in order to improve public transport safety. However, ENCASIA currently has 27 member states.
BAGAIA under the EU-ASA project, presented the request for peer reviews of processes in the regions where EU experts will do due diligence and provide reports afterwards.
Also BAGAIA requested for human capacity development and the ECCAIRS training of the new version.
The benefits of ECCAIRS is to compliment internal reporting system for the exchanges of safety data that is, collecting, sharing and allowing analysis of Safety Data that enhances Aviation Safety.
