Posted by By Kenneth Ehigiator & Taye Obateru on
A HUNDRED and twenty-nine passengers aboard a Chanchangi Airlines plane from Kaduna yesterday escaped death when the aircraft landed on a waterlogged runway of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja, and skidded off into a ditch.
LAGOS-A HUNDRED and twenty-nine passengers aboard a Chanchangi Airlines plane from Kaduna yesterday escaped death when the aircraft landed on a waterlogged runway of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja, and skidded off into a ditch.
It came 24 hours after a similar incident involving an EAS Airlines Boeing 737-200 at Jos Airport. The incident which occurred at about 9:15 am, forced the Aviation Minister, Mallam Isa Yuguda, to Lagos, where he immediately announced the suspension of the two pilots, Capt. Ndubuisi Ekwueme of EAS and his counterpart in Chanchangi, Capt. Bala Ramallan.
The aircraft, a Boeing 727-200, overshot the runway by about 100m and soon after the incident, the passengers were evacuated to safety, while the only available runway was shut to traffic for about five hours.
During the period of the closure of the runway, no aircraft was allowed to take off or land. Virgin Atlantic Airways? flight to London scheduled to depart at 10:00am did not do so until 2:00pm.
Some members of the presidential team that arrived Lagos from London, Friday night, were equally apprehensive that they might not be able to fly to Abuja, as the only alternate runway at the airport is still being rehabilitated three months after work on it ought to have been completed.
The flooding of the runway from weekend's downpour of the weekend was severe enough to spill to the presidential wing of the airport.
Ironically, the ditch the aircraft ended up is the drainage canal constructed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to check flooding of the runway and entire airport.
At press time yesterday, relevant agencies were making efforts to engage Julius Berger Plc to pull the aircraft with registration number BCF-5N from the mud. Co-ordinator and Public Relations Officer of Chanchangi Airlines, Alhaji Mohammed Tukur, who was on board the aircraft at the time of the incident blamed it on the waterlogged runway, but the Aviation minister attributed the cause to the negligence of the pilot.
Said the minister: "Chanchangi and EAS pilots landed amidst bad weather against the advice of the control tower. The pilots were supposed to have gone back to base or land in the nearest airports. Ilorin is an alternate airport to Lagos, just as Abuja and Kaduna are alternate airports to Jos.
"The recurrence of this kind of incidents is becoming a matter of concern to aviation authorities. Therefore, the two pilots, Capt. Ndubuisi Ekwueme of EAS and Capt. Bala Ramallan of Chanchangi have been suspended for three months. They are also to undergo retraining with immediate effect. All airlines are to ensure that their pilots undergo retraining within the next three months.?
The minister, who said much of the accidents were caused by human error, added that the Federal Government was intent on reducing such human errors to the barest minimum.
Meanwhile, the Yakubu Gowon Airport in Heipang, Jos, has been temporarily shut to traffic following the incident involving an EAS aircraft last Saturday.
According to the Director of the Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau (AIPB), Mr. Angus Ozoka, the closure is to pave the way for investigation into the cause of the incident.
Ozoka said the investigators would talk to airport officials, pilot of the aircraft and passengers to get a clearer picture of what happened.
Also speaking with journalists, Manager of Jos Airport, Alhaji Tanko Idris, said the flooding of the runway made normal landing impossible and gave thanks to God for averting what could have been a fatal crash. He also commended the pilot for bringing to bear his wealth of experience to save the passengers on board.
Efforts were being made yesterday to tow the aircraft from the scene of the incident.