The Accident Investigation Bureau [AIB] has confirmed that it has opened investigation into the emergency landing involving a Boeing 737-300 with registration marks 5N-BQO belonging to Air Peace Limited at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
In a statement signed by Engr. Akin Olateru, AIB Commissioner stated that the airline reported the emergency landing at the Airport at about 11:28 am today.
The Air Peace plane with 133 passengers and 6 crew members on board was travelling from the Port Harcourt International to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos when the incident occurred upon landing.
The statement noted that the aircraft nose wheel collapsed on landing on the runway [18R] and the nose wheel gear tire sheared off.
The airline in a statement signed by the chief operating officer, Toyin Olajide, said captain Ajibola noticed sudden weather changes when approaching Lagos and demanded to land on the International runway as it is longer and wider than the domestic runway.
“After landing safely and rolling to the runway exit, the nose gear developed a problem and partial collapsed. The crew notified the airport authorities who quickly ensured the safe disembarkation of the passengers via the passenger door which many said it was an inaccurate account of what happened.
The airline chief operating officer commended Captain Simisola Ajibola and her crew for handling the situation at the Lagos airport professionally.
Just last month, the Accident Investigation Bureau took a swipe at Air Peace, for failing to report serious accidents/incidents to the agency.
Commissioner of AIB in that statement made available to to some media organizations then explained that on June 5, 2019, the Bureau received notification about a serious incident involving a Boeing 737-300 aircraft with Registration Marks 5N-BUK, belonging to Air Peace Limited from a passenger-on-board.
That statement noted that the said incident occurred on May 15, 2019, while the aircraft was on approach to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos from Port Harcourt.
The aircraft was said to have experienced a hard landing as it touched down on the runway [18R]. Upon receipt of the notification, he noted that the Bureau visited Air Peace Limited office and confirmed the said occurrence, adding that the agency further conducted a damage assessment on the aircraft, which revealed that the air-craft made contact on the runway with the starboard engine cowling as obvious from various scrapes, scratches and dents, an evidence of tyre scouring on the sidewalls of the No. 4 tyre.
That AIB inspection also stated that there was also visible damage to the right-hand engine compressor blades and the aircraft has since been on ground, awaiting implementation of the hard landing inspections recommended by the aircraft manufacturer, the Boeing Company.
According to AIB, it would include an inspection of the right-hand engine pylons and the wing root, due to the heavy impact concerns.
Similarly, Olateru stated that in recent times, an aircraft belonging to Air Peace Limited was also involved in a serious incident, hinting that the airline willfully failed to comply with the provisions of the Bureau’s regulations.
He recalled that on December 14, 2018, a Boeing 737-300, belonging to the airline, with registration marks 5N-BUO, en route Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu from Lagos, was involved in a serious incident at about 10:44hrs and that the information only got to the Bureau through the social media.
Whist the Bureau was not notified of the occurrence until later in the evening, the AIB chief stated that investigators met the aircraft at the General Aviation Terminal [GAT] apron in Lagos where it was parked with the Cockpit Voice Recorder [CVR] affected, thereby posing an undesirable difficulty in the Bureau’s bid to successfully discharge its statutory mandate of investigating accidents and serious incidents.
“A careful investigation of the incident by the Bureau, revealed that the aircraft was relocated from Enugu where the incident occurred, back to Lagos and all relevant information on the CVR was overwritten, thereby making it impossible for the Bureau to retrieve the actual data,” AIB said.
General Manager, Public Affairs of AIB, Tunji Oketunbi, said the airline’s Accountable Manager and Chief Pilot at the material time, were duly warned by the Bureau for non-compliance with the regulations.
He said based on all the foregoing, it was obvious that Air Peace Management lacks the full understanding of the statutory mandates, functions and procedures of the bureau.
In his airline defence then, Allen Onyema, Chairman of Air Peace said that when the incident happened, the airline reported to the regulatory agency, the NCAA, and also wrote to Boeing and the manufacturer of the aircraft’s engine, CPM International.
“When the incident occurred, we reported it to NCAA. We followed the aircraft manual, which guided us on what to do when such incident occurred. We wrote to Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer and also wrote to the engine manufacturer, CPM International. We also grounded the aircraft he added.
Several experts that spoke with this publication express worries that, the cost, danger and failure to report such incidences would be too great.
They are of the opinion that what happened yesterday to the Air Peace plane was nothing, but crash-landing incident and that saying the wheel and the air plane nose collapsed after the plane successfully landed was misleading and a deliberate attempt to hide the obvious.
They warned that such should not be tolerated, especially when the truth would be unraveled by the AIB and Boeing investigations eventually.