Plane rams into truck at Lagos airport

Thursday, 11 October 2012

Odua-stella

AN IRS plane taxiing to take off with passengers on board, on Wednesday rammed into a Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) truck. 

The truck, according to information, broke down at the taxi way close to the domestic runway. FAAN, according to information, failed to remove the truck from the sensitive location. 

Unfortunately, the IRS plane, while taxiing to take off, had its wing rammed into the stationary truck which damaged it. The flight was consequently aborted with the passengers delayed. 

The development has sparked off criticisms as to the competence of FAAN towards emergencies.

According to Yemi Dada, IRS Managing Director, 'This morning, our flight, LVB 3306, taxied out on a Lagos to Kano flight with a transit stop in Abuja.

“The aircraft taxied out at 7.48 a.m. with 91 passengers.

“While taxiing on the taxi way, the captain observed a FAAN truck in a ditch. There were no marshallers around it, neither was there any marking to indicate that it encroached into the taxi way. There was no Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued to that effect as well.

"The captain continued on his taxi and the wing tip hit a protrusion from the truck towards the rear of the truck. This made the captain request for a return to Ramp from the tower and also notify the tower of the incident and the danger posed by the truck.

“The passengers were disembarked and re-accommodated on another aircraft which departed Lagos at 10.15 a.m.

“The incident has been reported to NCAA and we await the clearance of the NCAA to effect repairs and return the aircraft to service,” he said.

Meanwhile, Yakubu Datti, FAAN spokesman, claimed that the truck did not obstruct the runway, adding that the air traffic controllers had alerted the airlines before then.