Martinair: Memories of returning to work after cancer

One man’s passing and my story

A waking moment to attend to a nature call, then a brief glance at my phone to find that J. Martin Schröder had passed on early last month at the age of 93.

The obituary I read in the Telegraph filled in many gaps in my knowledge of the man who I never met but whose company on the verge of being absorbed by another played a significant role in my life. [The Telegraph: J Martin Schröder, enterprising Dutch pilot who built Europe’s first budget airline]

In early 2010, it was a dauntingly impossible task to write a resume with a one-year gap for jobs I used to be able to cherry pick for highly remunerated contract rates. Times when I could take a month or two off work to do other things were a luxury I could no longer afford.

Have you a job for me?

In the aftermath of the failure of my health and treatment for cancer, I had received a grace period from my creditors and despite the generous welfare payments I eventually applied for, 8 months later than I should have because I was unaware of my entitlements in the Netherlands, I was ready to get back to work even though I barely had the strength for any activity.

I had this idea to place a notice on LinkedIn explaining my situation to my network and out of it came an opening, a young colleague I worked with a few years before contacted me saying the job is not what I normally do but I could be useful for the project his recruiting outfit was getting personnel for. If only I had an enterprising business head like him, he worked on both sides of the game.

A different engagement

I attended an interview, and I cannot say it was my perspicacity that got me the role, I was a shadow of myself in many ways, but I was given the opportunity, there and then.

I got into the activity; it was an IP Renumbering project with Martinair the airline and cargo company. Their IT infrastructure had IP Address ranges that overlapped with that of KLM, all their systems needed to be reconfigured for the absorption into the broader enterprise.

My first 5 days at work totally knocked me out, I was too tired to get any rest, I was more exhausted than I had ever felt before, that it immediately dawned on me, that I was everything but superhuman, I needed to slow things down. In the process, I was able to negotiate a 4-day week with Wednesdays off.

The project was canned after 2 months and resurrected a month after to the end of the year. It gave me a big break and I am forever grateful to the many colleagues who accommodated my issues through the project. It was my last job before I left the Netherlands to return to the UK.

Grateful for the opportunity

That stint at Martinair meant I could notch up another industry in my career profile and to think I had worked so close to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in Hoofddorp and Schiphol-Rijk for many years without being in that industry.

I however maintain my links with the Netherlands through the Flying Blue loyalty scheme as I mainly fly with Air France-KLM except where they do not serve the intended route.

I cannot think of what I would have done if Martinair, the dream and enterprise founded by J Martin Schröder, did not have a job going. So many memories and some enduring friendships too. I acknowledge them and to the great man and pioneer in the aviation industry, may his soul rest in peace.

Opinion: Save the children from these people - Part I - The South Korean Ferry disaster

The father in me

Maybe just a word or two needs to be said about a number tragedies that have involved children that I have tweeted about lately.

I find myself having never exploited the possibility of having children and now by reason of the effects of chemotherapy possibly having no ability to bear my own children.

That said, age and maturity suggests and imposes on me a sense of both parenthood and grandparenthood that it is impossible for me not to at the very least feel like a parent would about their child or children in every way from the ordinary things of life, the celebration of successes or the unfortunate waves of anxiety and tragedy.

A lost integrity

In faraway South Korea, it was the man-made disaster of a ferry sinking that took with it hundreds of children’s lives as the captain of the ship shirked his responsibility and posed as a victim to get treatment.

Maritime responsibility has changed since the days of the Titanic or before then when the captain, Edward Smith went down with his ship rather than turn up later with crocodile tears asking for forgiveness and what not.

The ethos and integrity of captainship does not seem to have been installed in the captain of Costa Concordia and now MV Sewol, which meant that passengers under their care suffered where they should have been better cared for especially where the accidents in both cases were caused by grave errors of judgement committed by men with character flaws undiscovered until tragedy struck.

English for disasters

There is the other issue about the crew who were both chaotic and indecisive considering it was clear that the situation they were in was beyond redemption. Maybe it is a problem with the Power Distance Index of the Korean language as Malcolm Gladwell observed in his book Outliers with regards to air accidents.

It makes one suggest that in times of an emergency one should dispense with protocols and get straight to the point about what the power is, who it affects, what help is needed and be clear as to how soon they need that assistance.

From what transpired between the crew in the harbourmasters, neither was authoritative nor clear, in the process we have the tragedy of the needless loss of life that could been avoided even if the ship was definitely going to be lost. English offers clarity removing unnecessary hierarchies and probably should become the maritime language of communication as we have for aviation.

Peace, they must find

The agony of the parents unaware of the fact of their children’s watery demise is beyond what words can express, beyond being sorry for their loss, even enforcing the most severe penalties against the cowardly crew would not begin to assuage the pain of the death of the innocents.

May they find strength, comfort and some peace through their faith or any support systems made available to them in these troubling times.

Yet, we must save the children from those who would not assume the responsibility they have in despatching their duties.

#StellaGate: Do The Needful song

A princess in princely disaster

Therefore, the Nigeria Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, appeared before the House of Representatives committee on Aviation, to answer for overpriced bullet-proof BMW limousines presumably bought in her name.

With the air disaster, the near miss and suspension of airline operator licences that made October 2013 arguably the worst month of her tenure, the crisis of confidence was compounded with the purchase of unnecessary vehicles by a cash-strapped independent agency under her ministry.

See the following:

Nigeria: Acts of God in our Aviation Industry or Rank Incompetence?

Nigeria: Every reason to believe our airspace is not safe

Do the needful

After numberless claims and counterclaims from many government agencies with none of the at least five stories lining up, she appeared and said whilst she approved the transaction, she annotated the approval with, “Approved. Do the needful.”

‘Do the needful’ might well become a meme, but ‘Do the needful’ could mean anything from doing due diligence to exculpating oneself from responsibility if the whole issue blows up as it has done overshadowing the President's jamboree, pardon me, pilgrimage and visit to Israel, last week.

Let’s sing, let’s dance

However, rather that attempt to add another story to #StellaGate or #OduahGate with the aim of creating a Nigerian version of Arabian Nights and a story for bedtime, I have decided, ‘Do the Needful’ should be a song and dance, maybe a musical.

I am not a lyricist, but I have the framework of what can be refined and set to music, then we need a choreographer to help with the dance steps to go with the music.

Here is the draft ‘Do the Needful’ theme song:

Do the Needful,
I signed for the vehicle,
Make the claim,
But never in my name.

Do the Needful,
Stop the ridicule,
The BMW,
Is for me, not for you.

Do the Needful,
Take me for a fool,
A bulletproof price,
Is like rolling the dice.

Do the Needful,
The princess is beautiful,
Her life is in danger,
From some stranger.

Nigeria: Every reason to believe our airspace is not safe

These are not coincidences

I find myself trying to juxtapose the stark realities with the press briefings of bluster and vacuous lip service to performance and efficiency that dogs our aviation regulatory organisations in Nigeria.

In the aftermath of two events, a fatal crash in Lagos with flight 5N-BJY operated by Associated Aviation and flight 5N-JRM operated by Kabo Air in a near-miss, in Sokoto, the Aviation Minister insisted that the Nigerian air space is safe. [5N-BJY – Aviation Safety Network] [5N-JRM – Aviation Safety Network] [Daily Times]

Lapses in compliance

Along with the unfortunate, ‘Act of God’ comment posited by the Minister, in another report, she suggested broadly that there were “operational lapses and non-compliance with the policy”.

“What we did by suspending Dana’s operations is not making scapegoat of anyone. To suspend means that there must be operational lapses and non-compliance with the policy but it is always in tandem with international practice.” [This Day Live]

In the same report, she alluded to shared responsibilities and possibly gaps, and then she touched on a diverted return of another flight because the destination airport was closed as if either no flight plans were posted or other extenuating circumstances meant the trip could not be completed.

Having excoriated the people who have questioned reforms in the aviation sector, the Federal Government “also insisted that the safety and security of the sector cannot be fully achieved without funding.” The question then is whether there is adequate funding to ensure the safety and the security of our airspace.

The people in charge

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is empowered with “the Authority to regulate Aviation Safety without political interference, but also to carry out oversight functions of Airports, Airspace, Meteorological Services, etc. as well as economic regulations of the industry”. [NCAA]

Under the safety oversight functions of the NCAA, it is important to understand in detail what the NCAA does in Nigeria, the detail of which I have lifted from their website.

In Nigeria, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is the apex regulatory body, overseeing the activities of all airlines and their pilots, engineers and cabin staff, airports, airstrips and heliports, navigation aids, all service providers including the airport authority and the air traffic service provider, aviation training institutions, etc. NCAA watches over the entire industry. Its role can aptly be described as that of "general overseer" or "referee:' For want of a better sobriquet, NCAA has even been address as the "police" of the industry.

While all these are correct, NCAA is essentially a facilitator of compliance of aviation safety and economic regulations. [NCAA]

We are left in no doubt about where the responsibility for safety lies; it lies with the regulatory, oversight and policing operations of the NCAA.

Going in broke

Which takes us back to that question, the question of adequate funding, because another news story suggests that the NCAA is broke; the more serious allegation is that the NCAA inspectors take bribes; they are apparently taking bribes because of the non-payment of NCAA inspector allowances. [PM News Nigeria]

Now, there is no excuse for taking bribes to overlook the functions and the duties necessary to protect our aviation industry. From the basic checks through airworthiness of aircraft to safety procedures and all the elements of responsibility as stated by the Aviation Minister, we cannot condone the dereliction of duty leading to the unnecessary loss of lives.

What is key is that we must realise that there is a shared responsibility, there is a collective responsibility, pilots are responsible, operators are responsible, regulators are responsible, government is responsible and all these must work together otherwise there will be a gap in the system. [This Day Live]

Temptations and pressure

An unnamed NCAA inspector, talked of compromise safety, dwindling training, struggles to procure basic needs and much else.

“Aircraft inspectors’ allowances are not being paid as at when due, leaving us to the open temptations of bribe and compromise from corrupt and desperate airline operators who want their planes to fly at all costs.” [PM News Nigeria]

The source went on to say, “Some of us that are due for training overseas are asked to fund our training and come back for a refund after the training. This is absurd, and they keep saying they are broke.” [PM News Nigeria]

A crisis and great doubt

Taking all this together, we can assume as the very best there is a crisis in the Aviation Sector. The matter of safety is compromised by acts of men; those in management in the NCAA and probably the Aviation Ministry because the NCAA people cannot do their work without interference and inducement caused by not paying their allowances and not ensuring proper training.

This situation probably needs verification, but it cannot be left without investigation because it casts great doubt on the idea that Nigeria’s airspace is safe and the ICAO report that suggests Nigeria is way above average in compliance and regulatory management of her aviation industry.

At worst, we do have an emergency played out in the number of accidents and near misses that have made the news recently.

Related Blog

Nigeria: Acts of God in our Aviation Industry or Rank Incompetence?

Nigeria: Acts of God in our Aviation Industry or Rank Incompetence?

The power ignorant

I started this blog over five days ago and abandoned it after about 300 words because it seemed too difficult to write, but in another sense, it was not ripe for writing, it needed the incubation of time in passing and event to be ready – Now, I complete it with quite a number of links for reference.

Sometimes you wonder why Nigeria is plagued with a pestilence of elite in power that find ways to do the unfortunate, revel in the unmentionable and speak without consideration, emotion or feeling on matters that demand empathy, compassion and a sense of participation in our humanity.

An air of chaos

The last weekend greeted an air crash with the loss of lives on an Embraer 120RT Brasilia aircraft with registration 5N-BJY [Picture taken in August] operated by Associated Aviation in Lagos and a precarious event where landing gear tyres exploded on landing at Sokoto Airport (SKO/DNSO) of a Boeing 747-521B with registration 5N-JRM operated by Kabo Air. [BBC News] [Fox News] [Aviation Safety Network]

A former Aviation minister recently listed a series of air disasters over the last few decades that indicated issues with the aviation industry, its infrastructure, its management and its regulation, but I am not here to cover that. [Nigerian Eye] [Timeline - ChannelsTV] [Nigerian Air Accidents – Aviation Safety Network]

A siege mentality

My concern is with the inability of the current regime to recognise a serious and possible crisis with the aviation sector, assume responsibility that suggests an understanding of all the elements whilst implementing ideas, strategy, and plans to ensure that air disasters do not become the norm in Nigeria.

The government needs to emerge from its siege bunker and take a whiff of the air everyday Nigerians breathe whilst taking a sure grip of reality, coming out on the defensive to excoriate those asking difficult and uncomfortable questions of the Minister, the Ministry and other regulatory bodies is hardly the solution we need at this pressing time.

Safe to avoid?

In a news story yesterday, the Federal Government Insists Nigeria’s Airspace is Safe, I suppose if we ignore everything that has happened recently in terms of air crashes, one might be tempted to agree, but this is far from the truth. [Daily Times]

In aftermath of the crashes, we read of the immediate suspension of Dana Air’s operating licence; why they ever had the suspension in the aftermath of the June 3^rd 2013 crash promptly lifted remains a mystery. [The Nation]

By Monday, the Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah, flailing and swinging with vehemence and fury, first dismissed her predecessor with the words to the effect that he was “a drunk and a drug addict”, and accentuated that with the view that his comments “had little bearing with reality”.

Then she proceeded to give us her version of the bearings with reality of the Aviation Industry. Starting with a lamentation about security, safety and funding; implying the inadequacy of the former; then cosmetics of airport architecture before brandishing an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) assessment that gave Nigeria a 65% rating [61%] and position of the 12^th safest aviation space in the world. [Daily Times] [The ICAO 2013 Safety Report - PDF] [Leadership Nigeria]

Act of God unproven

On the accident itself, she said and these words below:

“We do not pray for accidents but it is inevitable. But all we do is to do everything to ensure that we do not have accidents. But is an act of God! Again, we do not speculate on the cause of accidents until that happens you can say this is the cause or that is not the cause.

But what is obvious and is the truth is that, in aviation there are shared responsibilities, starting from the man that carries your luggage to the man that make sure that your boarding pass is issued to you. And so the regulatory agency, the operators, the management, everybody has their responsibility and all must work in tandem for there to be an optimal, secured and safe aviation sector. And that is what we have been working.” [Daily Times]

The Aviation suggests accidents are inevitable [(Adjective) - certain to happen; unavoidable; (Noun) - a situation that is unavoidable.], then in the morass of the inevitability of accidents in Nigeria’s safe airspace, these accidents are apparently Acts of God [Forces of nature completely outside the realm of control of man, inexplicable and left in the helpless hands of fate.]

We must clearly understand what is an Act of God – “An event that directly and exclusively results from the occurrence of natural causes that could not have been prevented by the exercise of foresight or caution; an inevitable accident.” [The Free Dictionary]

For an air crash to be remotely termed an “Act of God”, there has to have been nothing humanly possible to avoid the accident by reason of foresight or caution, to which I would add warning or instruction.

Acts of pilots - I

The first indication of human error with respect to Sokoto Airport incident, suggest the pilot ignored instructions from Air Traffic Control to land on runway 08, the plane landed on runway 26 damaging Instrument Landing System aerials and thereby sustaining deflated tyres. [Leadership Nigeria] [Aviation Safety Network]

We can safety say that the Kabo Air incident that led to the suspension of the said pilot was no ‘Act of God’.

Acts of pilots - II

In addition, on the release of a preliminary report with respect to 5N-BJY, the Embraer 120RT Brasilia Associated Aviation operated aircraft crash in Lagos, the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) warned the pilots of instrument conditions essential to safe take-off, which they ignored. [The Scoop] [AIB Preliminary Report - PDF]

These warnings included, three audible chimes then “Take-off Flaps…Take-off Flaps”. The report suggests, “This is a configuration warning that suggests that the flaps were not in the correct position for take-off and there is some evidence that the crew may have chosen not to use flaps for the take-off.”

As the crew, assimilated, understood, reacted and ignored these warnings, the report documents the following, from the aircraft automated voice “’Take off Flaps, Auto Feather’. Auto feather refers to the pitch of the propeller blades.  In the feather position, the propeller does not produce any thrust.” [Basics on Flap Aircraft - Wikipedia] [Autofeather - Wikipedia]

This report indicates that the pilots were aware of a whole range of circumstances that informed the need to abort take-off but proceeded to ignore the basic science of essential power for airlift and consequently crashed the airplane – this again was no ‘Act of God’.

We have problems

The week presented a catalogue of problems with our aviation industry in Nigeria which the Aviation Minister succinctly put forward as – “What is key is that we must realise that there is a shared responsibility, there is a collective responsibility, pilots are responsible, operators are responsible, regulators are responsible, government is responsible and all these must work together otherwise there will be a gap in the system.” [This Day Live]

There are gaps in the system, in fact, too many gaps that indicate poor regulatory oversight leading to knee-jerk responses after disasters. Then possible pilot training deficiencies exhibited in their ignoring air traffic control or aircraft instrument instructions; airworthiness and safety issues and a minister whose penchant for verbosity appears to demonstrate activity and performance but the evidence must always be in how safe it is to fly in Nigeria.

Honestly!

More pertinently, we cannot have a minister quick to suggest the inevitability of air disasters to ‘Acts of God’ when the reports suggest without equivocation that the most recent disasters are clearly pilot errors, which could have led to the loss of almost 600 lives in one weekend.

However, where we celebrate mediocrity, exertion without effect and incompetence as great achievement, we cannot expect the change we need in our aviation industry for the better and that is very sad, indeed.

May the souls of those dearly departed because of this rotten and atrocious dereliction of responsibility of all involved rest in peace.

Lagos to Abuja on Icarus wings

Flying blind or by sight in the clouds

I do not know if I should say I am in shock or just utterly surprised about the news that night flights would commence between Lagos and Abuja, the commercial and administrative capitals of Nigeria respectively.

One must say though that new Aviation Minister despite his rottweiler tendencies in other ministerial positions is acquitting himself well in this tenure, grounding inefficient and incompetent services, lambasting poor customer relationships and raising hackles over the cost of travel between Nigeria and Europe are brownie points in my book despite the fact that many are both skeptical and cynical.

Learning that until now radar at these major airports only operated for 4 hours a day with a range of only 15km is enough to make one fill ones pants in terror, Icarus was a braver person, we are up for an improvement to a maximum of 65 nautical miles for 24 hours.

I suppose beyond that, it would be radio contact and nothing else after 70 miles of flight or just over 12 minutes of flight on a typical Boeing 737. There are more competent persons to offer the detail should they be persuaded to.

Progress this is no doubt, because I do remember when I lived near the International Airport in Lagos, there was hardly anything between us and the walled area 500 metres away and the radar gear was just within the walls with times when the gear was stationary rather than rotating – we all felt the political pulse of the country through noticing the numbers and kinds of planes flying in.

This is progress to be lauded, I wonder if it is enough for a country like Nigeria.

Nigeria will not tolerate rude airlines

Aviation in better hands, it seems

After all the aircraft accidents in Nigeria which lead to the redeployment of the oaf that was put in charge of overseeing that carnage, the replacement with Femi Fani-Kayode as Aviation Minister left many rather unimpressed, most especially myself.

It would however appear Mr Fani-Kayode is doing something useful in that position and this should be commended.

He has revoked licenses of some airlines, berated some of their activities and exacted policies to help improve safety and bolster confidence in a precarious aviation industry.

Now, he has set his sights on poor customer service on airlines that operate between Europe and Nigeria; their rude staff, as reported by the BBC.

Rude trolley dollies

I have heard of instances where passengers have been treated with utter contempt by trolley dollies (cabin crew) and it has required launching a formal complaint with the threat of involving race relations to obtain grudging apologies from these airlines.

What is really annoying is that these African routes are rarely bargains, there is good business and a profit being made from Nigerian travellers but the quality of service is despicable, sometimes to the extreme.

A grievance to be addressed

Mr Fani-Kayode said he “would not sit by and allow our people to be treated like animals by anybody or for any reason”

This is a valid grievance that needs to be addressed pronto by both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic and if this information has not percolated upwards that it has had Becky Livingstone of BA saying, “We take great pride in our customer service and have the same excellent standards for all our customers throughout the world”. They have now been given notice and they have to act.

If BA is very distressed, it is because they have rotten staff, visiting the Aviation Minister does not address his concerns if they do not improve the service and Virgin Atlantic is preparing a response to his valid and truthful accusations.

Asking that Nigerian passengers be treated with respect and decency is not too much to ask, especially as we also pay premium fares.

The death of Nigerian Culture begins

A man of no honour

All the clamour for the sacking of the Nigerian Aviation Minister must have been too loud for the president to ignore.

The minister himself who lacks any kind of integrity or appreciation of responsibility depicted in what others might regard as “the buck stops here”, had before the launching of an investigation into the Sunday aircrash already blamed it on pilot error.

For someone who has the academic qualifications that seems to make a mockery of anyone who deigns to call themselves a professor, it is amazing that he has no inkling of what his brief is about and how to handle his office with the panache expected of a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Obviously, I am raising the bar too high by that turn of phrase in the last paragraph because it would appear there has only been one minister ever in that country who has had the dignity to resign an appointment on a matter of principle talk less of dereliction of duty or possible criminal culpability.

Presiding over the damage of education

The problem really is that the hapless, incompetent, bumbling and sycophantic professor who as the Education Minister presided over great unrest in our education system that universities were closed for months on end due to arrant arrogance rather than conciliation and negotiation probably contributed in no small measure to ruining an already debilitated condition in our educational services.

How is it that a professor, a leader in a tertiary institution, accorded the honour of managing the educational system and raising the standards of the same; cannot seize the opportunity to make a difference for the positive?

You have to ask Professor Babalola Borishade, he must have an answer to that question.

Yet, the president kept faith in this failure and apology to progress, so rather than calling time on him, moved him to the Ministry of Aviation.

The grim-reapership of Borishade

A ministry that was in the throes of death, where the national carrier had been discredited internationally and a cabal of former ramshackle bus transport (molue – a transport contraption with a name that is the corruption of “maul it down” – depicting a lack of brakes, service or safety) entrepreneurs had moved up-market by adding wings to their molues such that they could masquerade as aircraft – aircraft rejected by madmen in the West with over 20 years service.

A molue courtesy of etomi - Just imagine this with wings

As it transpired the lack of accountability, reform, managerial responsibility and oversight under the grim-reapership of Professor Borishade created four mass coffins in 1 year and 6 days – it had become completely untenable to keep that harbinger of death in the Aviation Ministry – he just had to go – he has gone.

The death of our culture

Well, not really, he has now been moved to the Ministry of Culture – Here is to the death of culture in Nigeria – the bearer of the death mask just arrived.

I can say no more, whatever is between the president and this rotten man is definitely in need of serious scrutiny – it is more than meets the eye.

Reference

Nigerian aviation minister sacked - well, not really