AN Arik Air aircraft was involved in an incident on Saturday when the aircraft on landing at Jos Airport rammed into the body of an Air Force plane parked on the tarmac.
The development came even as another aircraft also belonging to Arik was alleged to have almost skidded off the Abuja Airport runway on landing.
According to information gathered, the pilot of the aircraft was alleged to have disobeyed warning against flying due to bad weather.
Despite the warning, the airline with flight number W3 232 flying from Enugu to Abuja was operated against bad weather which led to its involvement in serious weather situation.
The airline’s aircraft which rammed into an Air Force plane parked on the tarmac eventually caused substantial damage to the two aircraft.
The Director General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren, confirmed the Jos incident.
According to information gathered, the aircraft, a Boeing 737- 700 from Enugu to Abuja scheduled to depart Enugu at about 10:00 am was delayed until 11:40 am due to reports of approaching bad weather in Abuja.
Unfortunately, the pilot, in a bid to get to Abuja before the start of the rains, allegedly ignored all warnings and “took the aircraft and passengers through an extremely turbulent flight”.
On landing at Abuja the plane almost skidded off of the runway and passengers had to remain on the aircraft for 30 minutes before disembarking due to heavy rains in Abuja.
The NCAA had last week issued a statement where Dr Demuren advised pilots and airlines that there was need for pilots to exercise restraint in adverse weather and always respect weather forecast.
Demuren, in the statement, strongly advised pilots to be patient enough to allow it to subside or pass over the airfield before commencing flight.
As at the time of filing this report, all efforts made to reach the public relations officer of the airline to react failed as his phone rang severally without response.Arik plane in near mishap.
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