SAN FRANCISCO, October 05, (THEWILL) – There was panic in the aviation industry on Friday as an Arik Flight from Abuja to Benin originally billed for 2pm was rescheduled to 3 30pm same day with apologies to already checked-in passengers.
Eventually when the Abuja-Benin passengers were asked to proceed for boarding and conveyed by airport shuttle to the aircraft, passengers discovered that the initial aircraft had been changed to a smaller propeller Bombardier Q400 plane.
Despite the initial delay, the airline was still unprepared as passengers had to wait by the aircraft for ground crew members to hurriedly fuel, clean and prepare the aircraft for boarding to the chagrin of the passengers. They eventually boarded and the flight took off by about 4pm.
After the approximately 30 minutes flight, passengers were however held in frightful suspense after several attempts by the pilot to land the plane at the Benin Airport proved abortive.
The pilot explained to the passengers that he couldn’t land the plane due to heavy rainfall in Benin which caused poor visibility as well as a waterlogged and slippery runway.
The scenario caused uneasy calm and panic in the aircraft which hovered in the Benin airspace for about 45 minutes as the airborne passengers silently and openly prayed to their God and sang spiritual songs.
The fright that gripped passengers in the plane was not helped by the fact that the newspapers most of them had were awash with reports and pictures of the Agagu funeral party plane crash the previous day.
Even an attempt to land the plane in closeby Esubi Airstrip in Warri proved abortive too until the pilot eventually informed passengers that he would not dissipate more aviation fuel trying to land the plane, and that he had opted to fly back to Abuja, a decision the frightened passengers generally hailed.
Coincidentally, upon return, Abuja had a rainstorm too but with a well-lit runway that was not waterlogged, and the plane landed successfully to the relief of passengers.
In all, about two hours was spent in the air for a local flight of about 30 minutes.
A good number of passengers opted for a refund which Arik obliged, while others resolved to still travel with the flight rescheduled for 9 30am on Saturday.
