In late January 201 4, an Avianca Fokker
50 turboprop aircraft suffered a minor
engine malfunction prior to its departure from Cali, Colombia.

As a precaution, Avianca decided to ground its limited fleet of ageing Fokker 50 aircraft until an investigation into the cause of the engine malfunction could be concluded.

The Fokker 50 aircraft, which had an average age of just over 20 years, had already been earmarked for withdrawal and were set to be phased out by the end of 2014.


In late February, Avianca decided to
permanently ground its remaining fleet of Fokker 50 aircraft, with the airline citing the aircraft’s reliability issues as the primary motive for the grounding.

A Nepal Airlines de Haviland DHC-6 Twin Otter was en-route to Jumla Airport when the crew of the aircraft decided to divert to Bhairahawa Airport due to deteriorating weather conditions.

Air Traffic Control lost contact with the aircraft approximately 30 minutes after the crew decided to divert.

A search for the aircraft was subsequently launched. However, initial attempts to locate the aircraft were hampered by poor weather conditions.

On the 17th of February, Nepal's civil aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN); stated that a rescue team had reached the crash site. The team reported that the aircraft had been completely destroyed and that all occupants had perished in the accident.

In December 2013, Nepal was placed on the EU banned list of airlines after concerns were raised regarding the adequacy of safety oversight undertaken by the CAAN.

The United States civil aviation regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), recently conducted an audit of Ethiopia’s civil aviation regulator, the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA), as a part of the FAA’s International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program.

The IASA program was established to assist the FAA in identifying the level of oversight undertaken by a country’s civil aviation authority and ensuring these regulators adhere to internationally recognised standards in oversight.

The IASA program categorises counties as either a ‘Category 1’ or ‘Category 2’ country. Airlines operating from a Category 1 country can undertake un-restricted operations to the U.S., while airlines operating from a Category 2 country are subjected to increased inspections at U.S. destinations and carriers that had not previously initiated operations to U.S. cannot commence operations until the Category 2 classification is lifted.

The FAA conducted the audit of the ECAA over a five day period and assessed the regulators administrative procedures, regulatory legislation, operations manuals, oversight of aviation related activities and the qualifications of its professional personnel.

The FAA notified the ECAA in January that they had successfully passed the audit and that Ethiopia will retain its Category 1 classification.