By Paul Ukpabio
Having survived flying from Abuja to Lagos with a full load of passengers, an accident involving a Max Air with a truck was miraculously averted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Abuja.
What happened? Why was a truck suddenly facing an incoming Max Air on the airport runway? And there were more questions to be answered l when the incident took place.
It was later found out that on that particular Wednesday, a Max Air jet, landed on runway 18L of the Lagos airport, and almost ran into a malfunctioning vehicle which a mechanic that does not belong to the vicinity of the airport was busy testing on the runway.
It was learnt that the truck belonging to the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria’s Civil Department had been faulty and officials of the agency had to bring in a mechanic from outside to the airport. And when he finished working on the vehicle, none of the officials was with him. After having tried to reach them on phone proved abortive, the mechanic thought of testing the vehicle on the open space that the runway provided.
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Did he know how unsafe it was? Of course not! He did not know how airports work. But where were the officials that brought him in to effect the repair? They were no were to be found.
How many lives would have been lost if the accident was not averted? Several, all because of the negligence of some officials on duty at a sensible place like an airport!
The pilot immediately put a radio call through to the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency’s air traffic control officials on duty at the control tower, and from there the mechanic was arrested.
And then came the fire brigade approach, FAAN issued a disciplinary action on those that were involved. But more importantly, such shouldn’t be heard of again at any Nigerian airport.
