The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has grounded Rano aircraft’s flight from Sokoto to Kano after an engine failure.
Michael Achimugu, the NCAA’s director of public affairs and
consumer protection, said Rano aircraft 5N-BZY experienced a failure on one of
its engines in flight, but the pilot safely landed it.
He said the Rano aircraft’s engine had smoke, which
triggered safety protocols, and the NCAA grounded the aircraft pending
investigation.
“The Rano aircraft 5N-BZY experienced a failure on its
engine 1. Smoke was noticed in the cabin and flight deck. Oxygen masks were
donned. The appropriate safety protocols were initiated on the ground for
landing. Smoke dissipated. The pilot safely landed the aircraft without
incident,” Achimugu said in a statement on Monday.
“The NCAA Directorate of Airworthiness instructed that the
aircraft 5N-BZY remain grounded until the conclusion of investigations.”
“The rescue aircraft that was to airlift passengers out of
Sokoto had already boarded Abuja-Katsina passengers. It would have created
problems to deboard those passengers. The flight out of Sokoto was, therefore,
cancelled.”
The NCAA director said the aircraft is still on the ground
with engineers working on it.
Achimugu said the NCAA prioritises safety, adding that more
advanced countries have worse air incidents than Nigeria because, “here,
flights will get cancelled if there is the slightest concern about safety”.
Reporting the incident, Emeka Umeh, an X user, described it
as a quite disturbing.
He said an engine of the flight caught fire mid-air
“One of the engines of a Rano Air aircraft en route from
Kano to Sokoto caught fire mid-air. Thankfully, the pilot managed to land the
plane safely in Sokoto using the other engine,” Umeh wrote.
“However, shockingly, after just a few touch-ups, the
management of Rano Air cleared the same aircraft to fly passengers back to
Kano. What kind of negligence is this?”
Umeh alleged that Rano Air cleared the same aircraft to fly
passengers back to Kano despite recent engine issues.
He, however, said and the aircraft was forced to make a
U-turn back to Sokoto airport shortly after takeoff.
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