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Joe Abah: How flight engineer averted another potential air disaster

April 25, 2024 11:21 am

Joe Abah, a former director-general of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), has narrated how a ground engineer prevented another potential air disaster in Nigeria.

In a series of posts via X, Abah said he boarded the Ibom Air flight from Lagos to Abuja on Thursday morning.

He said as the aircraft prepared for take-off, there was a bang on the door from outside, which made the flight attendant to open the door.

“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,” Abah wrote.

He added that afterwards, the pilot made a “political” announcement that they need to perform some additional checks on the aircraft before take-off.

“He (pilot) spoke with the engineer and, a few seconds later, announced that we were to disembark,” Abah said.

“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.”

Abah asked the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to find him the engineer so that he can personally appreciate him.

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…

— Dr Joe Abah, OON (@DrJoeAbah) April 25, 2024
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Abah added that the incident caused disruptions and delays to the airline’s schedule for the day.

I am beginning to see how flights get delayed now. Given the fault with our 7am Lagos to Abuja plane, another plan has come from Uyo to take us to Abuja. Ibom Air has just announced a 2 hour delay “for operational reasons” for people going from Lagos to Uyo at 9am. They are using… https://t.co/xIFzKjZ6P1

— Dr Joe Abah, OON (@DrJoeAbah) April 25, 2024
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