Reports indicate that the helicopter involved in the recent crash in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, was initially written off and scrapped by a Canadian aviation company in 2018, which revoked its registration.
The helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76C+, had a history of incidents and was deemed unfit for operation in Canada before being reportedly reintroduced in Nigeria. This incident raises significant safety concerns, especially regarding the standards of maintenance, regulation, and inspection for decommissioned aircraft that find their way back into service.
Nigerian authorities are expected to investigate how the aircraft was brought back into use, despite the original Canadian assessment, and how safety protocols might have been overlooked. This event highlights a pressing need for more stringent controls to prevent compromised aircraft from re-entering service, especially in industries as high-stakes as aviation.
