Kurt A
24th April 2008, 02:27 PM
The emergency evacuation of a Kenya Airways plane was the result of the jet overshooting a runway in Uganda.
Although 113 passengers and seven crew hastily disembarked from the Boeing 737-300 aircraft, nobody onboard was injured.
Communications director of Kenya Airways, Victoria Kaigai, claimed the aircraft was not damaged, although a tyre was deflated in the incident.
The inaccurate landing was attributed to poor weather at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport.
Ms Kaigai said “Owing to heavy downpour and poor visibility in Entebbe, the pilot landed long and into the runway. The plane suffered a deflated tyre as a result.”
The aircraft was allegedly pulled back by a towing truck, operated by Uganda Airports Authority staff, in order to allow the passengers to safely exit, according to Aviationrecord.com.
The recovery from the incident was remarkable, as “the tyre was subsequently changed in 35 minutes and the plane embarked on the return journey to Nairobi...” according to Ms Kaigai.
The incident on Monday coincided with the Standard acquiring a report detailing over 100 Kenya Airways aircraft incidents in the past 3 months, with 93% of incidents reported occurring as recently as February.
A confidential “Flight Safety Report January-February 2008” has similarly identified that there were 135 incidents within this period, and this report has been forwarded to the IATA Operational Safety Audit.
However, Kenya Airways has always maintained its reputation in Africa, as one of the 20 carriers out of 193 on the continent that hold an IATA Operational Safety Audit certificate, as Business Daily reports.
Nevertheless, this mishap is close to the anniversary of the Kenya Airways plane crash from Cameroon, which landed in a mangrove swamp and saw no survivors.
The record of Kenya Airways may be promising by the standards in Africa, but air safety on the continent is an emerging crucial issue, as the accident rate remains six times the global average.
-eTravel
Although 113 passengers and seven crew hastily disembarked from the Boeing 737-300 aircraft, nobody onboard was injured.
Communications director of Kenya Airways, Victoria Kaigai, claimed the aircraft was not damaged, although a tyre was deflated in the incident.
The inaccurate landing was attributed to poor weather at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport.
Ms Kaigai said “Owing to heavy downpour and poor visibility in Entebbe, the pilot landed long and into the runway. The plane suffered a deflated tyre as a result.”
The aircraft was allegedly pulled back by a towing truck, operated by Uganda Airports Authority staff, in order to allow the passengers to safely exit, according to Aviationrecord.com.
The recovery from the incident was remarkable, as “the tyre was subsequently changed in 35 minutes and the plane embarked on the return journey to Nairobi...” according to Ms Kaigai.
The incident on Monday coincided with the Standard acquiring a report detailing over 100 Kenya Airways aircraft incidents in the past 3 months, with 93% of incidents reported occurring as recently as February.
A confidential “Flight Safety Report January-February 2008” has similarly identified that there were 135 incidents within this period, and this report has been forwarded to the IATA Operational Safety Audit.
However, Kenya Airways has always maintained its reputation in Africa, as one of the 20 carriers out of 193 on the continent that hold an IATA Operational Safety Audit certificate, as Business Daily reports.
Nevertheless, this mishap is close to the anniversary of the Kenya Airways plane crash from Cameroon, which landed in a mangrove swamp and saw no survivors.
The record of Kenya Airways may be promising by the standards in Africa, but air safety on the continent is an emerging crucial issue, as the accident rate remains six times the global average.
-eTravel