PASSENGERS DISEMBARKING
FROM THE IRS AIRCRAFT AFTER THE PILOT MADE AN EMERGENCY LANDING IN KADUNA
YESTERDAY
Less than two weeks after an aircraft belonging
to Associated Airlines crashed at the Lagos Airport killing 15 people, another
tragedy was averted on Sunday as an IRS Airline aircraft had to crash land when
its landing system developed hydraulic failure as it began its descent into the
Kaduna Airport.
The aircraft which had 89 passengers on board
reportedly crash-landed some minutes after 11:00am.
The plane which left Lagos at about 9: 45am in a
flight that was supposed to last one hour, was carrying passengers to Kaduna
but the faulty landing system, compelled the pilot to take a precautionary
measure by asking ground control to confirm that all gears were down and locked
as the aircraft hovered in the air for close to 40 minutes, passengers and
airport officials said.
When the control tower at the Kaduna airport was
alerted, fire fighters were immediately deployed to prepare grounds for emergency
landing. The runway was quickly covered with flame retardant foam to prevent
fire outbreak.
The pilot finally performed an emergency landing
at the beginning of the tarmac but passengers were not allowed to disembark
immediately until some few minutes after and when they eventually did, they
were instructed to run into nearby bushes to prevent any casualties in the
event of an unexpected fire outbreak.
Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority,
NCAA, Captain Fola Akinkoutu in a statement, confirmed the incident.
He said an aircraft F. 100 with Reg no 5N-HIR,
operated by IRS Airline landed safely, following a hydraulic leakage on the
runway of Kaduna airport yesterday.
According to him, the agency instructed the
airline to tow the aircraft to the apron and Accident Investigation Prevention
Bureau, AIB, has begun investigation into the incident.
Captain Akinkoutu said, “The NCAA wishes to
assure all air travelers of their safety and caution against magnifying a
manageable incident out of proportion.”
Also speaking on the incident, IRS spokesman,
Yemi Dada said, “On final approach to Kaduna today (yesterday) on our flight
3390 with 89 passengers, our cockpit crew got a low hydraulic in system 1
warning and decided to take precautionary measures to ask for ground
confirmation that all gears were down and locked and the aircraft landed
normally after the control tower had confirmed that the gears were all down
normally.”
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 are inspecting to confirm the
issue that caused the warning to the crew” the IRS spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the airline has on its own suspended
operations to enable it carry out maintenance.
-Daily Trust
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