A delegation from the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation and Prevention Bureau (AIB) paid a working visit to the Air Force Base, Tamale, in the Northern Region, to inspect the Command Training Facility for the siting of the Bureau’s Safety Laboratory.
The Safety Laboratory which has a very important and essential tool that makes accident investigation easier will contain devices for the reading of data on the Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Flight Data Recorder (Black Boxes).
This data extracted from the black boxes contributes significantly to the investigation by giving the investigators a recreation of the events that took place prior to the accident.
The delegation led by the Ag Commissioner of the Bureau, Mr. Akwasi Agyeibi Prempeh inspected the entire Training facility and selected a large hall for the siting of the laboratory and an office for the laboratory’s ground technician.
Speaking at a mini durbar held at the Tamale Air Force Base Officers’ Mess, Mr. Agyeibi Prempeh stated that the Safety Laboratory is one of the numerous initiatives that the Bureau is bringing up to help improve safety in the Ghanaian Aviation Industry and the world at large.
He also stated that the laboratory will serve the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority as well as the Ghana Air Force as both can use the facility to access data from their aircrafts for further analysis.
The Base Commander for the Air Force Base Tamale, Air Commodore Akrong expressed his excitement for the siting of a safety laboratory in his base of command. He pledged his full support on the initiative that the Bureau has taken and stated that having such a facility in Ghana was long overdue.
The Safety Laboratory according to Mr. Agyeibi Prempeh will be funded from the Internally Generated Funds of the AIB with support from the Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria, the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) United Kingdom and the Bureau of Air Accident Investigation Malta.
