SACAA probing SAA, Brussels incident
The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) says it is looking into an alleged safety incident involving an SAA flight where the airline’s crew allegedly miscalculated the take-off weight of the aircraft.
The flight was meant to collect the second consignment of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine from Brussels in late February.
The aviation regulator, in a statement, says although the alleged miscalculation did not lead to any serious damage, the airline failed to report the incident within the required time-frame.
"The SAA filed an incident report as required by the law, however, they failed to file the report within the prescribed period which ranges between 24, 48 and 72 hours depending on the nature of the incident.
"Upon receipt of the incident report, the SACAA put together a team of technical experts to investigate the incident itself as well as the reasons for the late filing of the incident report.
"Based on the outcomes of the investigation the SACAA will take corrective action(s) commensuranon-compliance- compliance," the statement reads.
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SACAA says it cannot make any pronouncements until investigations are concluded.
"Any suggestion that the Regulator is “sweeping matters” under the carpet is far from the truth and would in fact go against the regulatory principles adopted.
"It is, therefore, disingenuous to attempt to bring into disrepute the reputation of a performing public entity in a quest to push individualistic agendas," SACAA said.
The regulator lashed on the "individuals peddling these lies" as some who who hold licences from it.
"Of importance to state is that the SACAA has a reputation and remains one of the best performing state entities in the country and its performance has been audited and validated by numerous reputable and independent organisations both locally and internationally.
"To expect the organisation to dedicate its time and effort responding to frivolous accusations which we believe are meant to derail the SACAA from its mandate of ensuring civil aviation safety and security is unthinkable."
The statement concluded by reiterating that it refuses to be pulled into political fights.
"The SACAA is not a political party, and therefore has no interest in playing politics."
