The management of Enugu State-owned carrier, Enugu Air, has said the professionalism of its flight crew and favourable weather conditions contributed to the safe outcome of the airline’s recent runway excursion.

An Enugu Air Flight 4264, with registration number 5N-ENR, from Lagos to Benin, the Edo State capital, suffered a runway excursion on Thursday. All 63 passengers and five crew members on board were safely evacuated.

Chief Executive Officer and Accountable Manager of the airline, Captain Tolu Ita, while reacting to the development, said the pilots handled the situation expertly, adding that the wet conditions and grassy terrain might have prevented the incident from escalating into a serious issue.

Speaking on TVC News last night, Ita disclosed that, based on the accounts of the flight crew, the aircraft landed on the runway and deployed its brakes and reverse thrust but failed to stop before overrunning the runway.

She, however, urged travellers not to stop flying the airline, saying a single incident could not define Enugu Air’s safety record, as it had successfully completed more than 3,500 flights.

Her words: “From our perspective, especially because we are required as an airline to carry out an internal investigation, which we have done, and we have to submit our report also, what happened is, it was a normal flight. Based on several recounts, the crew landed.

“It was a normal profile, landed on the runway and deployed brakes and reverse thrust but the plane did not stop. Of course, they ended up exiting the whole runway and ended up in the bush. After stopping, they carried out a normal emergency evacuation.

“They had to use emergency slides to come out of the aircraft because there were no slides. But this is something they did impromptu because they are always prepared. As I said, we have cooperated with all regulations. Our engineers are currently working with the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, NSIB, to try and get the popular black box because the black box will record everything.

“So, which is why we keep emphasising that until that is done by the NSIB, we can’t make any official reports. But, we have to do our own preliminary investigation and reports, which is part of what will be submitted and the NSIB would also consider.

“Since we got our Air Operator’s Certificate, AOC, on March 10 and we started operation as Enugu Air on March 16, we have done and successfully completed over 3,500 flights. One flight out of 3,500 flights is not enough to define an airline.

“By the way, there are very leading airlines in this country that have had not one, but several excursions. It does not necessarily have dent safety records. Aviation is an ecosystem, and every successful flight means every ecosystem, the support, government, the facilities have done their job.

“So, one in many is not enough to define an airline. I can tell you, I can beat my chest that Enugu Air is a safe airline in the country to fly right now in Nigeria.

First, I would like to recognise the hand of God in that (incident), because a lot of things could have happened. Let me not talk on the technicalities of what happened that the two main landing gears collapsed. And one of them even actually collapsed into the wing carrying fuel. Those wings had fuel in them.

“Yes, pilot technique, the pilots were amazing. But I could also say the fact that it was raining probably helped. And then the grass prevented sparks. Because what you need is just a spark. But the fact that the surface was not hard, that smoothness on the grass kind of tempered it. That is my opinion, by the way.” (Vanguard)

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