Mr. George Olufade, the father of the co-pilot of the ill-fated Beachcraft 350, Alfred Ayodeji Olufade, has equivocally blamed military planes allegedly not in good condition and heavy workloads on pilots for the unfortunate incident.
Late Olufade was one of the eleven officers including the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru who were aboard the ill-fated Nigerian Air Force plane, Beachcraft 350, which crashed around 6:00pm on Friday, killing all the occupants.
The bereaved senior Olufade speaking to newsmen at the event to pay the last respects to the departing officers in Abuja, pinned the misfortune on alleged faulty planes and pilots made to fly many times, calling on the military authorities to address the issues.
“The military should take care of their planes. Most of their planes are outdated and not properly taken care of,” he told The Nation in Abuja yesterday after the burial.
“They (military) overstress their pilots. He (Alfred) just came back from Maiduguri and he had to fly again. They need to take care of their planes before they lose all their brilliant talents.
“Each time he had to fly, he would tell me and I would pray for him,” the distraught father said.
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