That Air Peace Lagos/Enugu flight incident

The country’s aviation sector is in the news again for a very serious reason with the latest incident involving an Air Peace aircraft on Lagos/Enugu bound flight last Friday which suffered depressurisation with the oxygen masks dropping on board.

Since the unfortunate incident reared its head, the entire sector particularly domestic airline business has been put on a very hot spot with the different interest groups reacting differently.

According to the information released to the public by some of the passengers on the flight in question through the social media platforms, the aircraft while on ground was worked upon by the airlines engineers before it took off which to them sparked suspicion.

The suspicion increased when twenty minutes into take off of the flight they observed that the plane was not moving smoothly leading to  the oxygen mask on board the plane dropping everywhere which to them was an indication that the plane had lost pressure.

In all honesty, anyone who finds himself/herself in that situation will know that life is so precious hence; at that point what follows pertaining to actions or reactions cannot be controlled.

While thanking God for keeping all passengers on board the flight safe and secured as none of them suffered any tragedy, there is however the need for all to wait for the outcome of the investigations into the incident.

While the passengers have the right to react in the face of any threat to their lives, there is however the need for caution in other not to rubbish the entire system because of one incident.

Though it is unfortunate that the passengers went through such agony, but one sure thing is that no airline that is worth its salt will want to toy with the lives of its passengers including even its own crew on board.

Depressurisation is an unusual occurrence that happens in air transport system which could be caused by many reasons such as turbulence or malfunction in the system which is not peculiar to Nigerian airlines.

While pleading with the passengers on board the affected flight to allow the relevant aviation authorities to do their investigations professionally, one obvious thing is that Air Peace is one of the domestic airlines keeping the flag flying high for Nigeria presently.

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With the number of aircraft in its fleet coupled with the professional manner its Chairman, Mr Allen Onyema has allowed the airline to be managed, it is not possible that he will want to compromise safety. Without any doubt, Air Peace is an airline that is still standing tall amongst Nigerian airlines despite the unfriendly business environment in the country.

Therefore, for a man who has sunk so much fortune into Air Peace because of his passion even while others are avoiding the terrain to now do otherwise at the expense of safety, is almost impossible.

As long as aircraft will continue to transport passengers from one point to the other, issues such as depressurization in the cabin will continue to occur, what matters most is the ability of the country’s regulatory body, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to be more alert by monitoring all the airlines to ensure all necessary components are well checked before any flight.

Above all, there is also the need for a subtle appeal to air travelers to soft pedal in the way they rush to post any experience that comes their way during flights in the social media because of the sensitivity of the sector. It is always better to contact the aviation agencies first.

The truth of the matter is that issues like depressurization occur daily in other countries but each time they occur, they treat such professionally without any emotional sentiments.

At this juncture, while the Crucial Moment joins the passengers on board the flight to thank God for protecting them, the time has come for all the relevant aviation authorities particularly the NCAA to enlighten air travelers on the need to avoid putting certain issues on social media.

But in educating air travelers on the danger inherent in rushing to put aviation issues on social media platforms rather than reaching out to aviation agencies by passengers, the NCAA in particular should re-examine itself to ask why people prefer to use such platforms rather than use the authority. Could it be that such passengers have lost confidence in the authority?

However, while passengers may be doing this out of pressure, unknown to them, there are so many questionable people out there waiting to use such issues to get mischievous or run other peoples’ businesses down.