Aircraft tyre bursts and matters arising

THE country’s aviation sector has been in the news again following the news of a purported plane crash at the Ilorin airport.

Ordinarily, the interpretation of the news which went viral last week would have been allowed to go but for the weight it carries and the dangerous damage such news are capable of inflicting on an already battered sector struggling to pick up after the deadly pandemic which still rages on.

The latest report which has been described as unpalatable reared its head towards the end of last week, Friday precisely, following an incident of tyre burst experienced by Air Peace Airline after landing at the Ilorin airport.

A Boeing 737-500 aircraft belonging to the airline which took off from Abuja and heading to Ilorin airport with 66 passengers and six crew members successfully landed but suffered a tyre burst in the course of taxing to stop.

By the time the experience was interpreted, the incident was pushed out as a serious accident which unfortunately put to test the responsibilities of the various aviation agencies regarding safety.

Obviously, the idea of describing the incident as an accident must have come from the affected passengers onboard the flight that understandably out of anxiety had flooded the social media platforms with the accident notion.

Again, while no one had control over how such incident can be interpreted by the affected passengers who must have been scared for their lives following the burst tyre, the sour taste the tale left on the lips of stakeholders was the misrepresentation of facts contained in the saga.

In the first place, what happened at the Ilorin airport was an incident and not accident. Hence, ordinarily should not have caused the crisis it has now created as the plane in question suffered the tyre burst after landing but taxiing which left no one injured which was far from an accident. Therefore, for the fact that the plane had already landed before it had two of its tyres deflated ruled out any crash. In other words, any aircraft on ground cannot experience a crash.

The way the issue was pushed out to the public domain was capable of causing confusion in view of the misrepresentation contained which even tried to drag in another airline into the drama.

Apart from the misrepresentation of facts about the incident, the aircraft of a different airline was now used to illustrate the imaginary accident.

Presently, the news has sparked reactions from the aviation authorities on one hand, the airlines and key players across the sector with everyone rushing to put the record straight for the general image of the sector at this sensitive period.

Reacting, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) while saying the news of the purported crash never happened, but a mere ‘misrepresentation and exaggeration’, cautioned the media in particular to show more professionalism when such incidents occur.

For the fact that the Accident Investigation Bureau, the agency responsible for investigating accidents or incidents decided not to investigate the incident after a thorough evaluation showed there was no cause for alarm.

Equally, the airline at the center of the drama, while insisting that its plane was not involved in any crash as being insinuated, in addition described those behind the news as being mischievous.

Even Overland Airways whose plane was used to illustrate the purported crash in its reaction, apart from saying none of its plane was involved in any incident, said such news could be harmful and misleading.

Key players in their reactions are also crying blue murder on the premise that such unverified reports can bring down airlines and be injurious to the sector in general.

Obviously, while there is nothing wrong in reporting issues regarding the sector, it however becomes imperative that such news need to be put in the correct perspective in other not to scare travelers, investors and even foreign partners away.

Aviation sector is very sensitive because of its international obligations which require absolute facts and not on the contrary at this critical period when aviation particularly airlines are just managing to survive the devastating pandemic. The issue of tyre burst happens everywhere and therefore not peculiar to Nigeria and therefore, requires absolute caution while presenting it to the public.

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