A former governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, and several
delegates to the ongoing National Conference escaped death by the
whiskers on Monday when the Overland Airways plane they boarded had its
wing damaged while airborne.
According to an eyewitness account, the Overland Airways plane, with
registration number 5NBPE, which took off from the Ibadan, Oyo State
airport, had its wing damaged as it was approaching the Niger State
airspace and had to make a detour to the Murtala Mohammed Airport,
Lagos.
One of the passengers involved revealed that some of the passengers fainted on hearing the bad news.
After
about three hours stay in Lagos, the passenger said: “We were moved
into another Overland aircraft with registration number 5N-BPF which
arrived from Enugu.”
The delegates were returning to Abuja to resume plenary at the ongoing National Conference.
Other
delegates on board of the plane were a former President of the Nigerian
Union of Journalists, Comrade Lanre Ogundipe; Senators Gbenga Kaka from
Ogun State and Hosea Agboola from Oyo State and Demola Akinlabi, an
officer in the Accountant General of the Federation’s Office.
Others were the Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Prince Gbade
Lana and a Federal National Population Commissioner, Abdul-Lateef
Gbadamosi.
Ladoja was due to take his turn at the National Conference on Monday.
However, due to the near air mishap, which resulted in his absence, his turn was skipped.
The
incident was confirmed by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency
(NAMA) which said that a domestic flight 1170 operated by Overland
Airways with an ATR-42 aircraft diverted from Ibadan enroute Abuja to
Lagos early Monday, following a reported cracked windshield.
According to information gathered, the pilot while airborne noticed
some cracks on the windshield and subsequently requested to divert the
aircraft to Lagos (being the base of the airline) to allow for change
of plane for the passengers.
A statement issued by NAMA added that the plane, which was airborne
around 9.42 a.m, diverted by, landing in Lagos at 9.43 a.m.
The agency said 42 passengers and six crew members were onboard the aircraft as of the time of the incident .
“There is no cause for alarm as the diversion was precautionary and
this comforms with the basic safety norms of the industry,” NAMA
declared.
Wind shear according to aviation terminology is a microscale
meteorological phenomenon occurring over a very small distance, but it
can be associated with weather features such as squall lines and cold
fronts.
It is commonly observed near microbursts and downbursts caused by
thunderstorms, fronts, areas of locally higher low level winds referred
to as low level jets, near mountains, radiation inversions that occur
due to clear skies and calm winds, buildings, wind turbines, and
sailboats.
Wind shear has a significant effect during take-off and landing of
aircraft due to its effects on control of the aircraft, and it has been a
sole or contributing cause of many aircraft accidents.
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