The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) yesterday temporarily grounded one of Aero’s B737 planes for re-certification following an aborted takeoff of its Lagos bound flight at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja due to a snag (fault).
According to industry source the plane was unable to takeoff after being cleared by Air Traffic Control and returned to the parking bay. NCAA inspectors insisted on re-certifying the aircraft after the maintenance engineers had rectified the technical fault that led to the aborted flight.
The passengers on board were asked by the inspectors to disembark to allow for a test flight of the aircraft by them. It was after they had tested the? plane and certified it okay that they allowed the passengers to board the plane for their onward journey to Lagos.?
The Aero flight crew, it was gathered later apologised to the passengers for the technical hitch that led to the almost two hours delay, adding that their aborted flight was in the interest of safety.
Aero media consultant, Mr. Simon Tumba of SY&T Communications Limited confirmed the incident.