In less than 24 hours after a chartered aircraft lost its tyres and landing gear at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, another plane, a commercial aircraft belonging to Dana Air, used its left wing to hit a fence at the facility on Friday.
PUNCH gathered that Dana flight, with registration number 5N-DEV from Port Harcourt, brushed the fence while trying to park after it landed at the NAIA.
Sources at the airport and passengers onboard the flight said that no injury was recorded, but blamed the aircraft’s pilot for the incident.
Narrating what happened, a source said,
“The Dana plane hit its wing on a fence while trying to park after it landed at the airport. This happened around 4.30pm and the number of the aircraft is 5N-DEV. The plane came into Abuja from Port Harcourt. The plane has not been towed up till this moment (5.33pm).
“From what we see on the ground, it’s like the pilot is the one at fault because he has refused to disembark from the plane. All the passengers have disembarked without any injury, but the pilot is still on the plane right now as I speak with you. After he landed the plane, he moved the aircraft to where it should be parked but struck an iron fence in the process.”
The source added, “Officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria are on the ground to either tow the aircraft or work on it, depending on the extent of the damage and they want to use a NAHCO tow van. The part that brushed and entered the fence was the left wing of the aircraft.
“The pilot should be blamed because from every indication he did not listen or follow instructions by the aircraft marshaller. The marshaller was directing the Air Peace aircraft in front of the Dana plane, but the pilot refused to wait for the Air Peace plane and went ahead to park on his own. This resulted in the incident because if he had waited, this wouldn’t have happened.”
The spokesperson for FAAN, Henrietta Yakubu, confirmed the development but stated that the plane only hit a noise breaker stationed on the tarmac.
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
What’s happening to our aviation industry? May God prevent any major mishap. Amen