The Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) says it has commence investigation into the runway overrun incident involving XeJet Airline’s Embraer 145 aircraft which occurred on Saturday 12th may at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport Lagos.
In a statement by the Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, Mrs. Bimbo Olawumi Oladeji noted that the incident was reported to the bureau by the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and immediately a Go team was dispatched by the bureau to the scene of the incident.
Mrs. Oladeji while narrating the incident explained that, the aircraft with registration number 5N BZZ, operated by XeJet was completing a scheduled flight from Abuja to Lagos with 49 passengers and 3 crew members onboard. She however maintained that the flight had departed Abuja at 11:10 a.m., maintaining a cruising altitude of Flight Level 280 and was cleared for landing after being held for 50 minutes in Lagos, waiting for a clear weather to land.
She stressed that the aircraft then landed on Runway 18 Left and went off the end of the runway to the left of the centerline and later stopped on the grass verge approximately 326 meters from the threshold of Runway 36R.
Mrs. Oladeji stressed that there were no reported injuries or fatalities as a result of the incident noting that the aircraft sustained damages on its nose landing gear and main landing gear tyres.
The statement added that the control data, cockpit voice recordings, and flight data recorders have been retrieved and will be downloaded and examined maintaining that the NSIB’s investigation will also examine various aspects, including the airworthiness status of the aircraft, operational policies, human factors, weather conditions, health and mental status of the crew, aircraft maintenance records, and any previous incidents involving the aircraft’s landing gear system.
She noted the investigation aims to identify any safety deficiencies and recommend measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future while stressing that that a preliminary investigation will be made public in the next thirty days to ascertain the primary cause of the incident.
BY: AYO AGBEOLUWAYE
