The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has reacted to the reports making the rounds that an airplane operated by Dana Air crash-landed in Lagos at the Murtala Muhammed Airport.
Speaking on the incident that happened on Tuesday morning, NCAA’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Mr Mike Achimugu denied that there was no crash-landing.
He said; “The occurrence that affected a McDonald Douglas (MD-83) with registration 5N-BKI is not an accident. It is a runway excursion.”
“Officials of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, NSIB, were on ground to investigate the incident.”
“Even the images would prove that it was a runway excursion. It is called a ‘serious incident’ and not even an accident. There was no crash landing. The statutory agency for investigating incidents like this is the NSIB and they are on ground.”
Also, an aviation management consultant, Mr. Babatunde Adeniji, said: “A runway incursion is when an aircraft or vehicle that should not be on the runway enters the runway. A runway excursion is when an aircraft veers off or overruns the runway. Today’s mishap was a runway excursion.”
“We don’t speculate in aviation, we always wait for the investigators’ reports. But, remember the aircraft takes off and lands at an extremely high speed, so any small wrong turn or skid in the surface can catapult it anywhere.”
