Femi Ashekun/
A wave of aviation incidents, including two catastrophic landing gear failures and a deadly crash in South Korea, has sparked growing concerns about global air travel safety.
The most recent incident involved a PAL Airlines aircraft operating as Air Canada flight AC2259, which was forced to make an emergency landing at Halifax Airport, Canada, late Saturday night.
A malfunction in the landing gear caused the plane to skid along the runway, tilting sharply to the left as sparks and flames erupted.
Terrified passengers recounted the chaos, with Nikki Valentine describing how the aircraft’s wing scraped the pavement. “The plane started to tilt at about a 20-degree angle to the left, and we heard what sounded like a crash as the wing and, presumably, the engine skidded along the pavement,” she told CBC News.
Video footage of the landing, now viral, showed flames erupting near the left wing as the aircraft came to a halt.
Emergency crews quickly extinguished the fire and evacuated all passengers. Fortunately, no injuries were reported, but the incident closed Halifax Airport temporarily, disrupting other flights.
This near-disaster occurred just hours after a far more devastating crash in South Korea. A Jeju Air flight from Bangkok to Muan veered off the runway during landing due to a landing gear failure, resulting in a fiery crash that claimed 179 lives.
The tragedy has drawn global attention, especially given its eerie similarity to the Halifax incident.
Social media users voiced alarm over the back-to-back failures, with one commenting, “Two catastrophic landing gear failures in hours? What’s happening in aviation? Mechanical failures or something deeper? We need answers fast.”
Adding to the string of incidents, an Embraer 190 operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan, earlier in the week. That crash, caused by a suspected technical failure, killed 38 passengers, with 29 survivors.
Experts warn that these incidents could signal systemic issues within aviation safety protocols. Analysts are questioning whether airline maintenance standards are slipping or if specific aircraft models may have recurring defects.
As investigations continue into each of these events, global aviation authorities face mounting pressure to address public concerns.
The high frequency of recent failures has led to calls for immediate reviews of maintenance practices, stricter oversight, and enhanced safety measures to restore confidence in air travel.
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