Panic in Kaduna as plane makes emergency landing
October 14, 2013 by Oyetunji Abioye, Udeme Ekwere and Godwin Isenyo
There
was panic at the Kaduna Airport on Sunday when an IRS Airlines Fokker
100 plane with about 99 passengers and crew made an emergency
landing.
The incident happened 10 days after 15
people were killed in an Associated Airlines plane crash in Lagos
and nine days after a Kabo Airlines Boeing 747 aircraft also made an
emergency landing in Sokoto Airport, Sokoto.
The IRS plane, which departed the
Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos was said to have experienced
hydraulic leakage a few minutes to its landing at the Kaduna Airport.
The pilots of the flight 3390 were said
to have requested an emergency landing from the airport’s control
tower which was immediately granted.
The control tower, according to an
aviation source, called the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria which
deployed fire fighters in and airport emergency response team the
runway.
Although the plane landed safely, it
was said to have been towed from the runway to the airport apron after
the panic-stricken passengers had disembarked .
A source at the airport, who said
none of the passengers and members of the crew got injured, added that
some parts of the plane were damaged.
He said, “Firefighters were immediately
deployed to avert any fire incident. When the plane landed safely,
there was a near stampede by the passengers but there were no
injuries.”
The Director-General, Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, confirmed the incident,
saying that investigation had commenced into the cause of the incident.
A statement by the agency quoted him as
saying, “An aircraft Fokker 100 with registration number 5N-HIR operated
by IRS Airlines landed safely following a hydraulic leakage on the
runway of Kaduna Airport today (Sunday). The NCAA directed the airline
to tow the aircraft to the apron. The Accident Investigation and
Prevention Bureau has commenced investigation into the incident.”
Akinkuotu, however, assured air travellers of their safety and cautioned against magnifying a manageable incident.
The Managing Director, IRS, Mr. Yemi
Dada, in an email statement to journalists, said the aircraft developed
the fault on final approach to the Kaduna airport.
According to him, the cockpit crew got a
warning from the aircraft system that the plane had low hydraulic, and
decided to take a precautionary measure by asking for ground
confirmation from the control tower at the Kaduna airport that all the
landing gears were down and locked.
Dada stated that the aircraft landed normally after the control tower had confirmed that the gears were all down and locked.
He said, “The crew proceeded to land,
but followed procedure to disembark on the runway and not taxi in
accordance with the procedure. All passengers disembarked normally and
the aircraft was towed to ramp. The maintenance crew inspected to
confirm the issue that caused the warning on the aircraft cockpit to the
crew.”
IRS currently operates one aircraft, as its remaining planes are routine checks overseas
However some aviation agency officials
were said to have faulted the pilots for declaring an emergency and
calling for the deployment of fire fighters.
A pilot told The PUNCH that the
officials argued that the pilots could have landed the plane safely
without causing further apprehension in the aviation sector.
This was further confirmed in a
statement issued by the Ministry of Aviation, which denied that the
aircraft had emergency landing.
A statement by the Special Assistant
(Media) to the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Joe Obi, said , “The pilot,
using reverse throttle mechanism, safely landed and stopped the aircraft
on the runway.
“The aircraft was not involved in an
emergency landing. All passengers and crew disembarked safely, after
which the aircraft was towed from the runway to the apron. Normal
operations have since resumed at the airport.”
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