VZW Wiloo                                                                

Kruidenstraat 19,

8400 Oostende, België

wiloo.be

 

                                   Mr. Wim Ovaa
                                   Head Airworthiness/SAFA Office Central JAA
                                   Saturnusstraat 50,
                                   2132 HB Hoofddorp
                                   Nederland
                                  

ASSIGNED                                                        

                                                                                  Ostend, December 9^th  2006

Concerning:    Airworthiness MK Airlines freighter planes

Dear sir,

On Wednesday 6^th of  December 2006  we witnessed an aborted takeoff by an MK Airlines DC-8 aircraft registered in Ghana as 9G-MKK. This happened at 15:26 hrs GMT at Ostend Bruges Airport RWY26. The plane returned to the apron for repair. 

It is not the first time we saw this happening “by coincidence”. MK Airlines has a bad safety record. We therefore wonder how often this might happen when we are not watching? As we live under or very near to the runways of Ostend Airport we are very much concerned the about safety of aircraft!

 MK Airlines planes are all except one, registered in Ghana. This is a cheap way to avoid expensive EU safety requirements! Ghana is, by US FAA standards, considered to be an unsafe country as far aviation is concerned, and does not meet ICAO standards!. In this context do we presume that SAFA is scrutinising MK Airlines’ aircraft closely?

 Could you inform us whether the MK Airlines fleet and aircraft 9G-MKK in particular, fully comply with all safety requirements in the EU? Could you tell us if SAFA inspections regularly take place on MK Airlines aircraft and which were the results of the last possible inspections?

 We are very pleased with the latest EU initiatives. However, we would like to see more transparency in the annual SAFA safety reports and to learn the names of air carriers who perform badly on safety aspects, the number of major findings (cat III) by your SAFA  team, the evolution of the number of those findings as well, and finally which initiatives (investments) companies have been taking to resolve their safety problems. In short more transparency and “naming and shaming” of those companies who are reluctant to change their “bad” safety performance. Specifically in the present case, we would like more (re)assuring information on MK Airlines. 

As European civilians we very much would appreciate your help

Yours faithfully

For vzw WILOO

Jacques Denecker

President

Ps.: Could you explain the difference in policies between EU and US regarding Ghana ICAO commitments?