The terrified passengers remained locked inside the plane allegedly because the aircraft’s fuel tank selector had developed a fault.
Experts say that a faulty fuel tank selector may lead to fuel mismanagement and engine failure, as the pilot finds it difficult to determine the exact amount of fuel remaining in the tank. An empty engine can lead to a crash, they say.
The Lagos-bound plane was diverted to Port Harcourt at about 6 p.m. allegedly to pick more passengers only to be grounded there for more than one hour.
“We were travelling to Lagos from Abuja and were delayed for more than two hours at Nnamdi Azikiwe airport. But when we finally took off, instead of coming straight to Lagos, we were informed that the plane would go to Port Harcourt first to pick more passengers.
“Once in Port Harcourt, we did not pick any passenger. We were there for more than an hour and people became worried and wanted to get off the plane after the pilot informed a passenger that the plane had a selector problem,” a passenger onboard told P.M.NEWS.
“Later the pilot said that the aircraft needed 500 litres of aviation fuel and we realised that he did not have enough fuel as well. Passengers moved to the exit door and they refused to let us out. There was commotion as we began sending text messages to our family members, not knowing what was going on or what could happen,” he said.
“They had total disregard for us and did not even feel that after delaying us for more than three hours, they had to apologise or provide an explanation,” he added, echoing the mood and feelings of other trapped passengers.
As the commotion went on and the delay lasted, a passenger who was travelling to Dubai from Lagos missed his flight. He threatened to report the airline to the Senate.
Passengers wondered why the plane was allowed to leave Abuja airport without enough fuel, an oversight that has caused a raft of air disasters around the world.
When contacted, Banji Ola, Arik Air spokesperson said that the claims, corroborated by other passengers, were unfounded
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i think problem we have is nigerians that dont know their rights and they are still patronising all this bad airlines with no customer service. Arik to be particular almost crashed when i entered from warri to lag sometime ago and the pilot including the flight attendant gave no info to the passengers on whats happening since then i ve stopped entering them,,,,,,if all Nigerians can stop patronising all the airlines with bad services they will be forced to step up even if the govt dats suppose to regulate them are useless and corrupt.
ReplyDeleteAre we listening to ourselves. A piot and an airline discovered a fault and decided to halt flight and we are complaining of some delays and someone's missing a connect flight to Dubai. What could or did we expect the crew to do?
ReplyDeleteBros, which one of them has good customer service???
ReplyDeletecomments like that coming from a senior citizen like Sir Johnson remains little to be desired. I think any flight exceeding the normal duration of flight will normally attract panic/fear driven anxiety from passengers. If crew members have been trained to die, passengers have not been trained to die. It's only polite, courteous and good for the crew members to offer explanation as to the delay on the ground. I am surprised they (the passengers) did not do worse.
ReplyDeleteI did not want to talk but now I must in the interest of my fellow country men.Arik crew cabin are like illiterares. I am scared of flying with them. What we do not realise in Nigeria is brand new planes does not translate to safety. The good Safety and maintennce records of Aero despite the aircrafts age makes it to be head and shoulders above Arik with its new planes. Ask from the oil industry. over 50 years of flying Nigeria without wasting lives.I flew Aero for 22 years in the oil industry. Nigerians, advise yourselves. It is your life.
ReplyDeleteJide
Are they crazy, why didn't check the fuel gauge before take -off. Do they want to kill people again. No God forbid. We can use luxurious bus as an alternative.
ReplyDeletei once travelled to lagos from london and throughout my journey to and fro lagos to london.The Tv did not work nor the radio.Can you imagine flying for 7 hrs,nothing to keep you busy.Arik use to be good but not now anymore.
ReplyDelete...After an initial 2hours delay in taking off the plane went to Port Harcourt first to pick more passengers? That one na danfo now? What kind of aviation industry is that??? what are the regulations guiding the industry? why is Nigerian so disorganized??? When they were in portharcourt ...they were there for more than an hour and people became worried and wanted to get off the plane after the pilot informed a passenger that the plane had a selector problem... so the pilot informed 1 passenger? he did not have the courtesy to make a general announcement about the situation of things? He informed only 1 passenger? The aviation regulations in this country should be known and the right of passengers as well is it until we have more air crashes and waste more lives? God forbids. Pls let us raise our voices to the right authorities before anoda mishap happens
ReplyDeleteI AM JUST TIRED OF THESE LAZY BONES. THOUROUGHLY USED PLANES, BAD HUMAN N PUBLIC RELATIONS, HIGH COST OF SERVICE, THE LIST IS ENDLESS.. ONLY GOD CAN HELP US. HABA!
ReplyDeleteThese air-planes are all air-borne coffins run by heartless and in-human undertakers.If the life of every single Nigerian meant something to them, they wouldn't be flying planes without aviation fuel or putting faulty and under serviced planes in the air with over 100 lives at stake. The aviation minister must be asleep and someone needs to wake her up or boot her out, end of.
ReplyDeleteIt is not abnormal for a machine to develop a fault. But when the same fault is persistent then don't hesitate to raise an alarm. Passsengers shoulkd try to quote the aircraft registration number (eg 5N-MJV, 5N-MJD) of any aircraft that presented a fault and not the flight number (AJ3441, HK2055 or WT0045). That way we can have a track record of the aircraft snags.
ReplyDelete