The Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero and 139 other passengers onboard Max Air flight that just took off from the Aminu Kano International Airport (AKIA), Kano Tuesday was hit by a bird, which forced one of the two-engine aircraft to malfunction, prompting the pilot to return to base.
THISDAY learnt that the aircraft, a Boeing 737 aircraft with the registration number: 5N: BBM had departed Kano for Abuja airport at 1:21pm, but made an air return barely nine minutes later when three blades in one of the engines were damaged by birds on takeoff at the airport.
Eyewitness account said the attack caused a big bang on the aircraft and the passengers were petrified with fear, as many went into bouts of prayer, not knowing what actually happened to the aircraft.
Operating with only one engine while gaining altitude on take, the aircraft was jolted, made heavy noise and vibrated in the air, as the pilot dexterously stabilized it and headed back to Kano airport to land.
Eyewitness account disclosed that the pilot-in-command later informed the passengers about the nature of the incident and returned to base to disembark the passengers.
The incident was confirmed by the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu in a telephone interview.
Nuhu said that the incident was similar to the one that happened on Monday in Port Harcourt to one of Aero Contractors aircraft.
He explained that NCAA had immediately called for a meeting with the managements of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to deliberate on how such occurrence could be curbed in the future, stressing that bird strike could cause grave damage to aircraft.
“We are meeting with FAAN and NAMA on this issue of bird strike,” he said.
FAAN is in charge of the airports and its environment directorate is saddled with the responsibility to keep birds away from the airports, their environment, especially the flight route on takeoff.
