By Sade Williams
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has grounded a Rano Air aircraft with registration number 5N-BZY which experienced a failure on its first engine on Sunday.
According to a statement by the Authority’s spokesperson on his X handle, Michael Achimigu, the Rano aircraft 5N-BZY experienced a failure on its engine 1 as it billowed smoke from the cabin and flightdeck.
The crew, it was gathered activated the Oxygen masks which were donned by passengers after the pilot reported incident to Air Traffic Control at 15.05
It was learnt that ‘the appropriate safety protocols were initiated on the ground for landing while the smoke also dissipated. The Pilot safely landed the aircraft without incident at about 1534hrs in Sokoto.’
The Authority added that its Directorate of Airworthiness instructed that the aircraft should remain grounded until the conclusion of investigations.
It explained that the rescue aircraft that was to then airlift passengers out of Sokoto had already boarded Abuja-Katsina passengers, the flight out of Sokoto was, therefore, cancelled.
“It would have created problems to deboard those passengers. The flight out of Sokoto was, therefore, cancelled, 5N-BYZ is still on the ground with engineers working on it.
The Authority reaffirmed its commitment to safety of passengers and safe equipment at all times.
“The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) prioritizes safety. The records are clear. More advanced countries have worse air incidents than Nigeria because, here, flights will get cancelled if there is the slightest concern about safety.”, it added.
