Tragedy Averted as Arik Aircraft Develops Engine Problem Mid-air

Segun Atanda/

Another major air disaster was averted Friday evening, as an Arik Airline flight going from Lagos to Abuja developed engine problem mid-air.
NewsmakersNG exclusively gathered that signs that the flight would be eventful had emerged earlier following a three-hour delay, from 5pm to 8:00pm, after which the pilot announced that the aircraft had gone for maintenance due to technical issues.
Recounting his experience, a terrified passenger said: “After the delay, the aircraft was taxing down the runway, when the pilot turned around and parked. Then some engineers arrived in Arik’s operational Hilux vehicle to work on the aircraft for about 15 minutes. The pilot then announced that there was a fault that appeared on the screen and it wasn’t a big deal. The flight eventually took off after the airline’s engineers were believed to have successfully fixed the fault.
“After flying for about 10 minutes, the aircraft malfunctioned. The engine was going on and off. And it was moving haphazardly. Then the white pilot, who called himself ‘the peoples’ pilot’, announced that there was problem and the aircraft had to make an emergency return to Lagos. The pilot’s effort is commendable. I actually thought that was it.”
When contacted, Arik Airline’s spokesman, Mr. Ola Adebanji, said: “There was no emergency landing. What happened was an air return. It’s like you are going out with your car and you discover noise that you don’t like in the engine, then you decided to return. There was no panic whatsoever.”
The airline officials later made frantic efforts to arrange another aircraft to convey the affected passengers to their destination.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the Virgin Atlantic flight that declared a mid-air emergency yesterday, in an earlier report by NewsmakersNG, did so because a male Nigerian passenger (name withheld) had what doctors described as a massive stroke.
The flight that took off from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, going to Heathrow Airport London, was forced to make an emergency landing in Marseille France, due to the development.
A close family source told Newsmakers, in Lagos, today, that the affected passenger was going to the United Kingdom to celebrate Christmas with his wife and children.
According to the source, the passenger is currently in intensive care in Marseille, where his family had already gone to join him.
He said the passenger would undergo a brain surgery in France as part of the bid to save his life.
The source told Newsmakers in a telephone chat: “The affected passenger is my very close friend. He was going to London to celebrate Christmas with his wife and children. He suffered what doctors have called massive stroke. His family members have gone to join him based on the advice of the doctor treating him in France. Please remember him and his family in your prayers. This is so sad.
“The last thing I heard was that they were planning a brain surgery. But they also said if he survives it, he will not be able to talk again and that the right side of his body would be paralyzed.”
The source said he was not aware the passenger has a history of hypertension.
“I am not aware he has a history of hypertension. We still chatted and spoke on phone on Monday and there was no sign that anything was wrong with him,” the source added.