Aero Contractors passengers stranded over invasion of birds

By allcitynews.ng

Aero Contractors schedule flight from Kano to Lagos suffered set back over invasion of birds at the airport.

Thus, the passengers were stranded as the plane could not fly as when schedule from Kano to Lagos.

The plane Boeing 737-800 aircraft of Aero Contractors from the Aminu Kano International Airport (AKIA), Kano was on Sunday morning hit by bird strike at take-off.

The aircraft with over 100 passengers onboard made an air return to base barely 15 minutes after takeoff.

The flight N2142 had departed the airport at 09:30, but returned to base around 09:45. The aircraft was originally scheduled to depart the airport at 08:45.

Information gathered by our correspondent indicated that the incident may have damaged the propeller of the aircraft.

One of the passengers onboard told our correspondent that the Pilot-In-Charge of the flight, returned the aircraft to base after he allegedly heard a bang on the right hand side of the aircraft.

The passenger said that there was no panic among those onboard as the pilot landed the aircraft safely, but later informed the passengers of the incident.

According to him, the right engine of the aircraft sucked in the birds.

However, as at the time of filing this report, the passengers were still stranded at the airport without any known arrangement by the airline.

It was also gathered that all the other scheduled airlines operating into Kano from Lagos and Abuja – Max Air and Air Peace, were said to have been fully booked until Wednesday, while Azman Air, which operates the route was last week suspended for audit of its operations by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

One of the affected passengers said that they were stranded at the airport and purported that the airline was not making any alternate plans for the passengers.

The passenger who doesn’t want in his name in print said: “There are indications that the passengers may remain in Kano till Wednesday. What is Aero Contractors doing on putting the passengers on another flight out of Kano?

“The pilot is an experienced person. He didn’t create panic in the minds of the passengers. A lot of the passengers didn’t actually know what happened. When we made air return to Kano, some of the passengers were wondering if we had arrived Lagos until he told them that he heard a sound at the right side of the engine. So, he had to return to base. It was after we landed that he explained that there was an injection of birds into one of the engines on take-off and it affected the engine.

Besides, a source close to the airline told our correspondent that the aircraft had been ferried to Lagos empty for repairs as recommended by civil aviation regulations.

However, efforts to get Aero Contractors to comment on the incident proved abortive as Capt. Abdullahi Mahmood, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the airline could not be reached for comment.

The Director-General, NCAA, Capt Musa Nuhu confirming incident to our correspondent on phone said that the authority had been notified of the incident, stressing that any airline could encounter bid strike incident.

He, however, said that the airline could not abandon the passengers in Kano, stressing that it would make an alternate arrangement to ferry them to Lagos.

Besides, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi, the General Manager, Public Affairs, Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria (AIB-N) confirmed the incident.

He said AIB-N had dispatched its investigators to the scene of the serious incident as required by the law.