Aero apologises for smoke-filled aircraft, says incident occurred during descent

The management of Aero Contractors has apologised to passengers aboard flight NG316, which was recently engulfed with smoke mid-air.

The airline says that it would get to the root of the matter.

A passenger had narrated on Twitter how the compartments of the Lagos-bound flight, which took off in Port Harcourt, became filled with smoke mid-air.

A statement released by the airline noted that the incident took place while the aircraft was descending into Lagos.

“The management led by Ado Sanusi, chief executive officer of Aero, has ordered for full scale investigation into the incident, preliminary reports has it that at 1645 GMT about 75NM to Lagos at 24,00ft, the cabin crew observed that the cabin was misty. This was reported to the captain, who briefed the passengers accordingly assuring them of a safe landing in Lagos in a couple of minutes,” the statement read.

“Expectedly as announced by the pilot, normal descent was initiated into Lagos. While descending however, a passenger went into the lavatory, after which the lavatory smoke detector alarm came on. The cabin crew again reported this incident to the captain and by this time the smoke was getting denser in the cabin.

“Ready and armed with ‘Aft Cargo Smoke’ indication in the flight deck, the crew carried out the smoke dispersal procedures and contacted air traffic control at 1655GMT, requesting for emergency support services and proceeded to Lagos, which is the airport with the full complement of emergency support.

“At this stage again, the cabin crew reassured the passengers and handed out wet towels to them as a precautionary measure for such incidents. The aircraft landed at 1703 GMT without any incident.”

Aero said its engineers have carried out routine checks on the aircraft and reported all normal, adding that its CEO had reported the incident to appropriate authorities with another round of investigation ongoing.