OFW sa Africa

Flying Experience

You are sitting comfortably in your seat and expecting to reach your destination in less than 1-hour time. Out of the blue, you saw smokes gradually coming on the top of your head. You are looking around finding where did this smoke come from while your heart begun to beat faster and the adrenalin are inundated rushing to every veins of your body. Inexplicably, you became tense, aghast and worried. In fact, you can’t explain the feeling you are encountering now. You are waiting for an explanation to find out if everything will be fine.

Then suddenly, the pilot announced that there was an electrical fault in the cockpit area and the plane needs to return to the base. The pilot added that everything would be ok. But, there is still a feeling of uneasiness on your mind and started to pray and call all the saints you could remember.

You see that this situation is becoming an occurrence here in Africa. In fact, a Boeing 727 owned by Chanchangi Airlines yesterday was in flames as it landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.

The aircraft which arrived from Kaduna was scheduled to depart for Lagos.

Although the airline’s spokesperson explained that the fire incident was first noticed in the cockpit, and not in the engine as believed, he added that the lagos-bound passengers were transferred to another aircraft which later took them to their destination.

The incident comes a few weeks after an aircraft belonging to Chanchangi Airlines made a return to Lagos after a hydraulic leakage was discovered shortly before touch down in Abuja. That incident occurred not too long after another Chanchangi-owned aircraft on its way to Kaduna from Lagos returned to base because one of its three engines broke down 20 minutes after take-off. One of the blades of the engine reportedly fell off.

A similar decision to return to base nearly caused a brawl between Chanchangi’s crew and two passengers in a flight to Lagos from Abuja.

The Chanchangi aircraft was already airborne when the pilot realized that its cargo hold door was open and had to return to base to close it. A passenger in the aircraft said there was a loud bang when the plane eventually landed as the cargo door hit the tarmac.

Attempt by two passengers to disembark from the plane was flatly refused by the crew.

I just pray that I will not experience the aforementioned horrible things. I still have a family to feed.

posted by Asthong Kutchong @ 3:02 AM