Two Boeing 737-800NG aircraft belonging
to Arik Air were grounded by the carrier on Tuesday afternoon after they
were involved in a ground collision on the tarmac of the Murtala
Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
According to the airline, nobody was hurt in the incident, which occurred at the General Aviation Terminal of the airport.
Arik Air’s spokesperson, Mr. Ola
Adebanji, said the incident happened when one of the aircraft was on its
way to embark on a scheduled flight.
He said the aircraft’s wing brushed that
of another plane belonging to the carrier, adding that the situation
was adequately handled by the firm’s team.
Adebanji said in a statement, “Two of
our aircraft, Boeing 737-800NG, were this (Tuesday) afternoon involved
in a wing-tip brush at the General Aviation Terminal of the Murtala
Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
“One of the aircraft, 5N-MJP, was
marshalled out of the ramp for a scheduled flight when its wing brushed
that of another aircraft, 5N-MJQ, parked on the ramp. There were no
incidences as the safety of passengers was not jeopardised. We have
grounded the two aircraft and are looking into the incident.”
When contacted, the spokesperson for the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, told our
correspondent that it was compulsory for the airline to file a Mandatory
Occurrence Reporting with the agency, telling it of the incident.
Although he stated that he had not been
briefed of the incident as of the time of filing this report, Adurogboye
stated that it was expected of the carrier to report the incident to
the NCAA for appropriate action.
He said, “It is an incident. Once there
is a disruption in a flight operation, which does not involve damage to
the aircraft or fatalities, then it is an incident. Once you operate an
aircraft, there are bound to be incidences and the regulation requires
that they file the report of any incidence with the NCAA immediately by
telephone and putting it in writing thereafter.
“So, they are bound to call us within
the hour. Our people will now be sent to ascertain the incident and if
it is something that is worth maintenance, we will ensure that after it
is done, we recertify the aircraft before they return to operation. That
is the regulation.”
No comments:
Post a Comment