Passengers of an Ibom Air flight heading to Abuja were on Thursday morning left stranded in Lagos over the aircraft’s faulty landing gear.
One of the passengers and former DAI’s Country Director for Nigeria, Dr. Joe Abah, who narrated the incident in a post on his X platform handle said that they were saved from an impending disaster by a ground engineer at the airport who stopped the flight at the point of takeoff.
Narrating their ordeal, Abah said, “I boarded a 7am @ibomairlines flight in Lagos this morning, heading to Abuja. My brother @seunonigbinde was on the same flight and we had chatted briefly about work. Aircraft door was shut, phones switched off, 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 need to perform some additional checks before take-off and apologised 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.
“If you are that young Nigerian engineer, God will bless you abundantly.
