The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended with immediate effect Max Air operations of its Boeing-737.
According to News Band report, in a letter NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/363, NCAA directed the suspension of Parts A3 and D43 with regards to the operation of Max Air’s Boeing 737 aircraft type with immediate effect.
Citing reasons for the suspension, NCAA cited amongst other things, “loss of Number 1 Main Landing Gear (MLG) wheel during the serious incident involving a Boeing 737-400 aircraft”, “fuel contamination of the main fuel tanks of aircraft B737-300″, “aborted take-off of Boeing 737-400 aircraft” and “air return by aircraft B737-300″.
The suspension of the parts A3 and D43 in the Operations Specifications of the Boeing B737 Aircraft type in the fleet of Max Air followed the damning report by David Hundeyin on 12 July, 2023.
Mr. Hundeyin had narrated how, on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, an Aero Contractors Boeing 737-500 with tail identifier 5N-BLE took off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, shortly after dark on a scheduled service to Sokoto with over 100 passengers onboard.
Within a few minutes of takeoff, the pilot declared an undisclosed emergency and returned to Abuja.
Again, three weeks later, on Friday, July 7, 2023, a Max Air Boeing 737-3H4 with the tail identifier 5N-MHM took off from the same airport at about 12:15 with nearly 100 passengers onboard and actually made it to Yola Airport and the passengers disembarked safely.
However, the report said: “What both sets of passengers did not know was that they had narrowly escaped becoming the victims of Nigeria’s largest civil air disaster since Dana Air Flight 0992 in June 2012.
“The passengers on the Sokoto-bound flight were never told exactly what happened, neither were the disembarking passengers on the Abuja-Yola flight informed that they had just survived what could easily have been their last-ever journey.
“In fact, it is only after reading this story that these passengers will realise just how close they came to death in a Jet-A1 fireball somewhere in the Sahel.”
This was what happened. Hundeyin spoke to an industry expert who asked to remain anonymous and asked her how such an amount of water could even come to be inside an aircraft’s fuel tank to begin with.
This was her response:
““The suppliers of Jet-A1 keep the fuel in underground storage tanks before transferring it to a road tanker that will convey it to the airport. From there, the airlines buy it and have it supplied to their aircraft.
“During the rainy season, the likelihood of having water in the fuel increases.
“The NCAA requires these fuel suppliers to carry out what we call a “water check” using special strips that change colour when in contact with water.
“Before fueling the aircraft in Abuja, they should have carried out this check by sampling a small amount of fuel from the bottom of the tank, since water settles at the bottom unlike jet fuel. If this check is not carried out, it becomes a problem.”
It was following this shocking revelation, as well as another involving the body parts, that NCAA suspended the operations of Max Air. Read more.
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