Nigerian Flight Deck Travel and Business Reportage
A technical hitch Thursday night forced an Azman Air flight to make air return when the aircraft landing gear refused to retract after takeoff because the gear pin was not removed before the aircraft took off to enable the landing gear to retract.
A source in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) who confirmed the air return to our reporter declined speaking on it further but assured that the regulatory authority would investigate the incident.
NigerianFLIGHTDECK learnt that Azman Air flight from Lagos to Maiduguri via Abuja which took off at 10:30 had to return to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos to be recertified before it took off again.
Our reporter gathered that the pilot had announced to the passengers that the gear pin was not removed before the aircraft took off to enable the landing gear to retract so he had to return to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos so that the pin would be removed.
An eyewitness said that some passengers were unable to continue the flight, opting out probably out of fear
An engineer who spoke under conditions of anonymity said that the gear pin is put in a landing gear of an aircraft that has been parked not to be used for another couple of hours, he said those in charge of clearing the aircraft to fly should have been observant enough to notice the gear pin was still inserted.
The NCAA in March suspended Azman Air due to series of incidents that regulatory authority said violated safety, which include the fact that on 11th February 2021, Azman Air flight AZM 2318 operated with Boeing 737-500 aircraft with registration 5N-SYS departing Kaduna for Lagos.
The airline has since been cleared and returned to service after the complying with safety recommendations by the NCAA and enacting its Corrective Action Plan (CAP), to the satisfactory of he regulatory authority.
