The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority,NCAA has sent a four-man team to recertify one of Dana’s aircraft that was involved in an incident at the Abuja airport this morning.
Picture of the emergency exit door as captured by a passenger on board
The emergency exit door of the Dana Aircraft fell off after landing and while taxing at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
In a statement, the spokesman for the airline, Mr. Kingsley Ezenwen said the door would not have fallen off without a conscious effort by a passenger to open it.
He said,”We wish to state categorically that this could never have happened without a conscious effort by a passenger to open it.
By design, the emergency exit door of our aircraft are plug-type backed by pressure, which ordinary cannot fall off without tampering or conscious effort to open by a crew member or passenger.
We also wish to enlighten the author that, when an aircraft is airborne, it is fully pressurized and there was no way the seat or door could have been ‘shaking’ as insinuated”.
Ezenwen explained that, “thorough inspection was however carried out on the said aircraft upon landing in Abuja, by our engineers and a team from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and no issue was reported. There was also no threat to safety at any point.
The flight was only delayed for 8 minutes as we needed to demonstrate to the regulators that the safety and comfort of our guests is at the centre of our operations”.
Spokesman, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority,NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye who also confirmed the incident said a 4-man team had been raised to re-certify the aircraft.
He said only after the certification to ascertain whether it was airworthy again before it would be released to embark on flight operations.
“What actually happened just like you heard,yes the plane when landing and taxing, the emergency exit door came down, that was the report I heard also and I had to quickly find out also, I found out in our system and I was told by Airworthiness that Dana air notified them and they have raised a four-man team to go and look at the aeroplane, the report of our team will confirm to us what really happened”.
The aircraft has since been flown back to the Lagos airport, Dana airline spokesman Kingsley Ezemwen “the flight was only delayed for 8 minutes as we needed to demonstrate to the regulators that the safety and comfort of our guests is at the centre of our operations”.
We wish to apologize to our guests for any inconvenience such report may have caused and for the slight delay on the return service to Lagos, as one of the oldest and most experienced airline in Nigeria, we remain committed to global best practices”
A thorough investigation of the concerned passenger is ongoing.
