The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has grounded Rano Air due to safety issues with the aircraft.
In a post by the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Mr Michael Achimugu, on his X handle, revealed the decision of the Authority.
The post read “The Rano aircraft 5N-BZY experienced a failure on its engine 1, smoke was noticed in the cabin and on the flight deck. Oxygen masks were donned and the appropriate safety protocols were initiated on the ground for landing.
“Smoke dissipated, and the pilot safely landed the aircraft without incident.”
“The NCAA Directorate of Airworthiness instructed that the aircraft 5N-BZY remain grounded until the conclusion of investigations.”
” The rescue aircraft that was to airlift passengers out of Sokoto had already boarded Abuja-Katsina passengers. It would have created problems to disembark those passengers. The flight out of Sokoto was, therefore, cancelled.”
5N-BYZ is still on the ground with engineers working on it.
Mr Achimugu reiterates NCAA’s commitment to prioritising safety with dependable track records as he pointed that indications show that some more advanced countries have worse air incidents than in Nigeria as flights are being cancelled in Nigeria when slight safety concerns are noticed.
Lateefah Ibrahim