The authorities, yesterday, shed more light on the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) plane that crash landed in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Friday, saying the aircraft landed 1,100 meters from the runway.They insisted that the two pilots of the plane, one of six involved in the 2011 Staff Continuity Training Exercise and Sports Week of NAF, were hale and hearty and under observation. The Air Officer Commanding, Training, Kaduna, Air Vice Marshall Ibrahim, reportedly visited the scene of incident.
In the meantime, investigation of the mishap, according to the authorities, had commenced.
A statement, yesterday, by the managing director of Ibom Airport Development Company Limited, Capt. Jari Williams, narrated the incident:
“The Akwa Ibom International Airport (AKIA) and the Margaret Ekpo International Airport (MEIA), Calabar were jointly earmarked as the operation zone for the year 2011 Staff Continuity Training Exercise & Sports Week of the Nigeria Air Force (NAF). The preliminary exercise commenced at the AKIA on Tuesday 25th October, 2011 and has been very successful in the last three (03) days.
“On Friday 28th October, 2011, seven NAF airplanes departed MEIA en-route AKIA out of which six (06) landed safely. Unfortunately, at 19.09hours, one of the aircraft with two (02) pilots on board crash landed 1,100 meters from Runway 21. The AKIA aerodrome rescue and fire fighting safety team on activation responded promptly to the incident.
Meanwhile, no damage to the AKIA facilities has been recorded. The two (02) pilots are hale and hearty and currently under observation as a matter of procedure.
“The NAF investigation team is on site and investigation is on-going.
“In a swift reaction, the management of AKIA has notified NCAA of the incident and the Director General, NCAA, having confirmed that the incident was off-site the airport facilities with no recorded damage to airport facilities, has given clearance for continuous flight operations into and out of the AKIA.
“The management of AKIA wishes to assure the flying public that AKIA is safe for flight operations in line with our current certification”.
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