Emergency to save life caused landing helicopter on Benin-Ore highway, says TAL
Operators of the chartered helicopter that recently landed on Benin-Ore Expressway disrupting highway traffic, Tropical Arctic Logistics Limited (TAL), has given reasons for the occurrence.
In a terse statement made available to Business Hilights revealed that “the exercise was a medical emergency to save life”.
TAL also made it clear that it got all necessary clearance form relevant aviation regulators including g the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) for the operations, and did not violate any extant security or safety rules.
The AW139 rotary-wing aircraft, number 5N–BVQ, had landed on the tensed standstill traffic gridlock on Benin-Ore Expressway to pick a passenger even though eye-witness reports suggest that a popular billionaire (name with held) and a lady were the target of the chopper service.
Recall that shortly after the incident went viral, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) launched investigation into the circumstance that led to the exercise and compliance to regulatory rules governing such procedure.
Observers say if there had been strong inter-agency synergy, NAMA would have alerted NCAA of its approval for the operation.
In his explanation, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of TAL, Femi Adeniji, expressed surprised at the “undue outrage” following social media footage, when TAL was only carrying out an operation that is already gaining global traction.
He made it clear that the AW139 rotary-wing aircraft was never involved in any scheduled flight diversion, having filed a flight plan for the exercise.
Adeniji averred that “We wish to state that our mission for that flight was to save lives. We immediately swung into action and rushed to the site in record time to pick the individual, who is currently recuperating in the hospital.
“We are a licensed logistics company to carry out medical evacuation operations and was engaged to air lift an individual who suffered a serious health challenge while caught in traffic and needed emergency evacuation on the day in question,” he said.
Continuing, he explained that the successful highway evacuation was conducted in close collaboration with security agencies including the Nigerian Army and Police, who he said created the needed environment for the landing and takeoff.
