No fake parts found as SAA aircraft fly again
Forty-six planes grounded after audit found that maintenance requirements were not met
The SA Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) says that no “suspect parts” were found in its audit of the aircraft maintained by SA Airways subsidiary, SAA Technical (SAAT).
Forty-six planes were grounded by Sacaa this week after an audit earlier in October revealed that SAAT had not complied fully with all the requirements during maintenance. The audit was sparked by a report in the Sunday Times three weeks ago in which an incident with a Mango aircraft was linked to the possible use of “suspect parts” sold to SAAT by an international criminal syndicate.
By Thursday night, most of the aircraft that belong to SAA and Comair, which were grounded at the start of the week, had returned to the skies.
Phindiwe Gwebu, spokesperson for Sacaa, said in an interview on Thursday: “We verified during the audit that no fake parts were found.”
Vusi Pikoli, SAA’s chief risk and compliance officer, to whom the comments on the syndicate were attributed, said on Thursday that the possible infiltration by criminal syndicates pertained to several forensic reports done by the Open Water Consultancy several years ago and not a new investigation.
Since Pikoli’s appointment earlier in 2019 to clean up corruption at SAA, he has persuaded the National Prosecuting Authority to revive several investigations of forensic reports done since 2015. These include the reports on corruption at SAA Technical.
Pikoli said on Thursday that the investigations were of syndicates that operated several years ago “but could still be operating, hence the investigations”.
He said he had “resuscitated the old dockets”. Pikoli had also never said that this involved “suspect parts” and the Sunday Times had since corrected their report at his request.
However, the Sacaa did make findings against SAAT, which it says were serious and compromised safety. The first was that “unqualified
technicians” had released aircraft into service after maintenance; and the second was that voice and cockpit recorders had not been removed, downloaded and analysed with the regularity required by maintenance protocols.
SAA Technical CEO Adam Voss said that it was inaccurate to describe the technicians who had released aircraft back into service as “unqualified”. A technician with this responsibility had an aircraft-maintenance licence, a trade certificate in avionics and the requisite amount of experience, he said.
However, the Sacaa head of aviation safety, Simon Segwabe, said that trade certificates in all three of the avionics trades — radio, electrical and instruments
— must authorise aircraft releases. SAAT had required only one. Voss said that this had now been rectified and made part of procedure. While SAAT considers it adequate for the technician to hold one trade certificate, Sacaa says that three are necessary. Voss said the procedure had now been rectified to fit with the requirements.
The second serious finding related to the frequency with which voice and cockpit recorders were removed, downloaded and analysed. Voss said this inadequacy arose from human error as the interval for the servicing of these recorders was inputted into the maintenance tracking system incorrectly. This was also corrected.
Voss said that neither of the findings would have compromised aircraft safety.
Segwabe said the analysis of flight recorders can provide valuable information on the aircraft that has not been detected by the pilot. SAAT was deeply affected by state capture and corruption.
The Open Water forensic reports revealed malfeasance in the awarding of contracts.
Equipment was also sold and then leased back to the firm in corrupt deals.
In June 2018, former CEO Musa Zwane was dismissed after a disciplinary hearing for collaborating in a corrupt financing deal with then SAA chair Dudu Myeni during a stint as SAA acting CEO.
The company has also been flagged by the auditor-general for its lack of control over inventories, which is an essential part of aviation safety.
Previous management had scrapped the central control of inventory and logistics, which had a disastrous effect on inventory tracking with the company not able to determine its overall stock levels or requirements.
Former SAA CEO Vuyani Jarana initiated the reinstatement of the centralised function.
Voss said he appointed a single individual to manage inventory and secured it both through a tracking system and physically. He also appointed a head of security into the top management structure.