A crash was averted on Thursday as a plane made an emergency landing at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport following the loss of its door shortly after take-off. A Triton Aviation CL60 aircraft averted a crash by issuing a mayday call after losing a door in flight.
An X User, @flowjoejoe, who described himself as a pilot and entrepreneur, captured moment of the aircraft with its main door making emergency landing, stating, “Today tragedy was averted at abuja airport, a challenger 604 aircraft with tail no T7-SEI Had an explosive decompression that ripped off its door after takeoff and had to return to the airfield, fire trucks & emergency services were dispatched to assist in the incident, but thank God nothing happened & they landed on their own power & were able to taxi out the runway without assistance.
“I was about to depart when I heard the mayday call & tower had to cancel my start up clearance pending when the matter was resolved. I had goose bumps and chills seeing the airplane on approach & landing without a door, no amount of training prepares you for that scenario. Thank goodness no life was lost.
An incident report on the emergency landing disclosed that at about 4:29 p.m. UTC, while in contact with the Abuja control tower, the crew asked whether air traffic controllers could confirm if the door was open.
It added that the duty air traffic controller attempted to observe the aircraft using binoculars, but could not establish the door’s condition because of the aircraft’s position. The crew was subsequently informed that the controller could not confirm the situation visually.”
A video online showed the aircraft’s door found on farmland in Abuja.
“This is what we found as we were returning from our farm. It fell from a plane, but we don’t know much about its identity,” a voice in the video said.
Earlier this month, the Air Force ATR-42 aircraft crashed in the Igbokoda community of Ondo, killing all aboard. Shortly after another Nigerian Air Force aircraft made a precautionary landing on a farm in Benue after providing close air support during an operation against suspected kidnappers.
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