12 Jul 2017

The Ministry of Transport and Communications informs the public that the Directorate of Accident Investigation is continuing investigations of a fatal air crash of a Sling II aircraft belonging to International Aviation Solutions (IAS) Aviation Academy.

As an update to the previous communication on last week’s fatal air crash, the ministry states that the exercise is being conducted in conformity with its domestic mandate under the Civil Aviation Act

No. 11 of 2011, and Botswana’s international obligations as a contracting state to the International Civil Aviation organisation (ICAO), which in each case mandate procedures for the investigation and report back of any and all serious incidents and accidents.

In this context, states the release, once complete the findings of the investigation will be made known to the public.

In light of public concern and media speculation about aviation safety standards in the context of last week’s tragic incident, the ministry wishes to further reassure the public that the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB) has been and shall continue to ensure full compliance with ICAO standards and recommended practices.

With specific reference to the status of the IAS Academy, without prejudice to the ongoing investigation, the release confirms that in 2015, the CAAB carried out a re-certification of the training school in compliance with ICAO audit requirements. In this context the school was inspected and approved by an ICAO audit team.

In 2016, the IAS Academy further applied and was ultimately granted international accreditation as an ICAO approved TRAINAIR institution.

According to the release, this followed an intensive three months ICAO on site audit of the institution.

In this respect, the IAS Academy is one of only 14 aviation training organisations in Africa accredited to ICAO TRAINAIR, further being the only such flight training institution in the SADC region.

The release says the ministry can further confirm that since 2014, the IAS Academy has graduated 34 commercial and 37 private pilots. ENDS