The Sweep Continues...

Bellview Airlines -- whose Boeing 737 went down outside Lagos in an October 23 accident that claimed all 117 people onboard -- has become the third airline to be grounded by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) this month. The move comes one day after another Bellview aircraft made an emergency landing in Accra, the capital of Ghana.

"We have been grounded. Right now we are not operating in compliance with the directive of the technical task force set up by the Aviation Minister Babalola Borishade," said Bellview spokesman Habib Mohammed, according to the BBC.

"I believe the decision is to allow for proper inspection of our aircraft to ensure their air worthiness and guarantee aviation safety," Mohammed added.

Other carriers that have been grounded by the NCAA are Sosoliso -- which operated a DC-9 that went down in Port Harcourt two weeks ago, killing all 103 onboard -- and Chanchangi.

While many have criticized Nigeria for failing to act sooner in addressing safety issues with the nation's fleet of aging aircraft, the government -- on orders from Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo -- has been acting swiftly of late to show it means business.

As was reported in Aero-News, in addition to grounding airlines the government also grounded all the nation's 737 airliners this past weekend -- forcing inspectors to adhere to a 5-year-old airworthiness directive, which called for the immediate inspection of the center spar of the horizontal stabilizer.

Some 737s, however, were evidently still flying in spite of the grounding -- including the Bellview jet that touched down in Accra Monday.

"The pilot had earlier radioed the control tower in Accra, declaring an emergency during descent to land at Accra airport due to a hydraulic system failure," Eric Noi of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority told Reuters. "The aircraft landed safely... without any casualties. The aircraft burst a tyre upon landing and was disabled for a while on the runway and was subsequently towed to the hangar."

Bellview -- previously considered by many to be the safest Nigerian airline -- had not had a fatal accident until the October 23 mishap. Some have said the accident may not have been an accident at all, blaming the incident on sabotage, or even a bomb.

Those suspicions have been fueled with the inability of investigators to locate the aircraft's two flight data recorders.

FMI: www.nopa.net/Aviation/messages/6.shtml