Tragedy Averted @ MMIA as Abuja-Bound Aero Plane Suffers Burst Tyre

Tragedy was averted on Tuesday when a Boeing 737-500 aircraft belonging to Aero Airlines suffered a burst tyre while taking off at the Runway 18 left of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos State.

The aircraft, marked NG 127, ran into trouble when the tyre burst just as it was taking off to Abuja.

According to a source, the over 100 passengers on board the flight were thrown into palpable fear as the pilot initiated an air return.

The incident was confirmed by the airline through its media consultant. In a short statement issued by the media consultant, the airline said the pilot of the aircraft did the right thing by making an air return.

According to the statement: "The pilot did the right thing by not trying to abort the take-off. He controlled the airplane into the air and following all trained procedures, he brought the plane back to a safe landing."

The airline however said that «at no time during all of these were the passengers lives at any risk."

The airline had, on June 5, experienced a similar incident when one of its planes with over 100 passengers on board from Lagos to Kaduna suffered depressurisation in the aircraft cabin, leading to dropping of oxygen masks.