Aminu Ado Bayero, the Emir of Kano and 139 other passengers of Max Air on Tuesday afternoon involved in a bird strike incident at the Aminu Kano International Airport (AKIA), Kano, aboard Max Air aircraft.
Information gathered by our correspondent indicated that the aircraft, a Boeing 737 aircraft with the registration number: 5N: BBM had departed Kano for Abuja airport at 1:21pm, but made an air return barely nine minutes later when three engine blades were attacked by birds on take-off at the airport.
The attack caused a big bang on the aircraft and brought agitations to the onboard passengers who were unsure of the kind of attack the airplane suffered.
It was gathered that the plane immediately after the attack shook, made a heavy noise and vibrated in the air.
It was learnt that the pilot-in-command later informed the passengers about the nature of the incident and returned to base to disembark the passengers.
Capt. Musa Nuhu, the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) confirmed the incident to our correspondent on phone.
Nuhu said that the incident was similar to the one that happened on Monday in Port Harcourt to one of Aero Contractors aircraft.
He explained that NCAA had immediately called for a meeting with the managements of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to deliberate on how such occurrence could be curbed in the future, stressing that bird strike could cause grave damage to aircraft.
He said: “We are meeting with FAAN and NAMA on this issue of bird strike.”
This is coming barely 24 hours after an Aero Contractor aircraft involved in a bird strike incident at Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA).
