OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday
THE man in charge of flight safety in South Africa has been found guilty of breaking the very laws he was hired to enforce, the Sunday Times reports.
Two independent investigations have found that the head of the Civil Aviation Authority, Trevor Abrahams, flew an aircraft without the proper qualifications, crash-landed and then failed to immediately report the incident.
The findings into the incident at the Rand Airport in Gauteng on July 18, 1999 were released this week and found that Abrahams’ licence to fly using instruments was “irregular and invalid” because he had failed to pass, or even write, a crucial examination on the subject.
The probes also indicate that he disobeyed the safety regulations he was hired to enforce by failing to immediately report the botched landing at the airport.
Yesterday a defiant Abrahams, who was suspended on full pay in July last year, disagreed with the findings against him, said the newspaper. He was unaware, he said, about the instrument rating on his licence being invalid and blamed the error on CAA staff issuing it to him incorrectly. He assumed he did not have to write the test.
Abrahams also said he reported the botched landing within 24 hours which was an acceptable practice worldwide.
At the time of the incident Abrahams was flying four passengers, including two children. Upon landing he said the aeroplane, for reasons he could not explain, veered violently to the left bursting two tyres and causing about R4 000 damage. He said there were no staff on duty at Rand Airport, he towed the aeroplane onto a grass verge and abandoned it for the night.
Airport staff found his business cards in the cockpit the next day when he reported what had happened.
But the two probes by an Independent Review Panel set up by the CAA, and headed by Advocate Vincent Maleka, however, clash with Abraham’s version of events.
The panel’s first report said he “ought to have known” he had to pass a theoretical examination before being awarded an instrument rating.
A second report released this week said: “Abrahams ought to have reported the incident on the evening of 18 July 1999 and his failure to do so was not in compliance…” with regulations.
“He was or ought to have been aware that there is always a standby accident investigator of the CAA who is available for contact on a 24-hour basis. After all, he was the commissioner and chief executive officer of the CAA at the time of the incident,” the report said.
Abrahams, 47, was suspended in connection with an alleged pilots’ licence test paper scam involving CAA staff. He is facing charges of fraud and corruption.