A possible air accident was averted on Thursday in Murtala Mohammed Airport Lagos when an Abuja-bound fully-loaded Ibom Air flight was stopped due to faults detected with the landing gear.
This was disclosed via a post on X by a former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr Joe Abah on Thursday.
Abah said passengers were already onboard with the plane door shut, phones switched off, and ready for takeoff.
The public commentator said there was a strange knock on the aircraft door from outside, and as the flight attendant opened, a flight engineer entered and told the pilot the landing gear of the aircraft was bad.
He said, “I boarded a 7 am @ibomairlines flight in Lagos this morning, heading to Abuja. My brother @seunonigbinde was on the same flight and we had chatted briefly about work. The aircraft door was shut, phones switched off, and ready for takeoff.
“As we were about to start taxiing, there was a loud knock on the aircraft door from outside. We all wondered what it could be. The knocking got more persistent. The flight attendant had to open the door again.
“As she did, a ground engineer came in and those of us in front clearly heard him say “You can’t go. Your landing gear is bad.”
“The pilot made a ‘political’ announcement that they needed to perform some additional checks before take-off and apologized for the delay. He spoke with the engineer and, a few seconds later, announced that we were to disembark.
“I thank God that we have the systems in place to check this and avert potential disaster. And that we have some diligent Nigerians who take their work seriously.”
