obi4eze:

Sir, the correct word in this context is life not live.

Thank you Mr Perfect sir. Now I can faint.

[size=15pt]how old is this aircraft?[/size]

Thank God is not DARK and DOOMY friday!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD friday for evry1....

To God be the glory. My father was on that plane. Allah mun gode maka.

Just hoping this thread won't turn out to be the usual tribal slugfest we are used to see on NL this days.

@topic, thank God for averting what could have been a national and international disaster.

i no blame them, na person were dey alive they exchange hot words

ROCK-J:
Most foreign airlines send their worst and oldest planes to Nigeria to carry Nigerians. British airways is the most guilty of this terrible act. The aviation people should look into this before a crash happens. This is an eye opener to all.

That's a stupid unsubstantiable claim!
I've flown BA 5times and I can swear that their planes are newer than what Arik parades" plus. 737 800 series is NOT what you will call old.

Get your head out of your ass bro!

ROCK-J:
Most foreign airlines send their worst and oldest planes to Nigeria to carry Nigerians. British airways is the most guilty of this terrible act. The aviation people should look into this before a crash happens. This is an eye opener to all.

Absolutely false. In this case, the aircraft used was the Boeing 737-800. That, my friend, is a new generation (NG) medium lift aircraft with winglets, totally different from the classics (200, 300) initially used by local airlines.

Air Maroc is very unreliable. I've used it once and swore never to travel with it again. The plane was old and did not keep to time. It was six hours late.

ROCK-J:
Most foreign airlines send their worst and oldest planes to Nigeria to carry Nigerians. British airways is the most guilty of this terrible act. The aviation people should look into this before a crash happens. This is an eye opener to all.

Lie. BA to naija is definitely not their worst. Talking from experience to other ( western) destinations.

Burger01:
Yeah, thank God no live was lost and thank God it's not 'Aero Contractor'...

Glory be to the Almighty God.

How old was the plane blah blah blah narrowly escaped death blah blah blah not airworthy blah blah blah...

I would rather put my wife and kids on a German-owned, German-maintained 30 years old aircraft, than on a 1-year old Nigerian owned and Nigerian-maintained aircraft. Now, for someone not to call me a racist:

The problem in Nigeria is not incompetence, but rather extremely poor maintenance culture, and equally extremely high level of corruption. How many times did it happen in Europe or the USA that the captain of the airfract was simply arrested for being drunk? How many times did you hear of some airline or airport official being locked up for a gross misconduct?

Engine failure can be a result of many problems:

-Contaminated fuel
-Bird strike
-Fuel supply system
-Aircraft running out of fuel for any reason
-Fuel leakage
-Failure of internal components of the engine

Engines can also fail due to the design flaws. For instance TACA AIRLINES emergency landing on May 24, 1988:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TACA_Flight_110

BOTH engines failure was a result of a serious design and testing flaw. And it was less than a year old aircraft. Pilot had only one eye (other one completely damaged in a civil war) and yet, he and a co-pilot managed to safely land a plane without engines on a grass field. No injuries on board, and plane was flyable few days later.

p.s. The airline that is, in my opinion, providing the worst service in Nigeria is Turkish Airlines. For most of African destinations they send their, as someone said, worst and oldest planes. So if you travel from Ghana, Nigeria or Sudan to some European destination through Istanbul with them... be prepared for everything. And when in Istanbul you board Europe-bound flight, you wonder how come planes on European routes are so much better. But guess what, rules, regulations and laws are a lot more strictly enforced in Europe and you can only dare to do something stupid once... and regret it later.

And another useful resource:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airline_flights_that_required_gliding

Thank God 4 deir life

osaass: Thank God no live was lost.

If it were a local route...A one hour flight should have completed a Lagos-Abuja trip so it will be deemed fit to load another Abuja-lagos bound passengers into the air-molue till it crashes.

Jadeng: I do know the flight path, but 1 hour is quite a distance for the pilot to have risked returning to the point of take off when an engine fails?

Thank God His Grace and Mercy.

For your mind, the pilot for land for China, Burkina-faso abi inside bush?

I do not know how best one can educate Nigerians! Engine shut down is not an uncommon occurrence in flight especially on twin or multiple engine aircraft, and as part of the planning by flight operations department of the airline, possible diversion airports are planned as part of a typical flight path planning. In doing so, several issues are taking into consideration, like reserve fuel on board, head wind, availability of Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facilities, availability of spares, easy of spares delivery, accommodation, etc.

The decision to return to base to particular airport is usually communicated to the Pilot by the Chief Control officer in the Control or "Situation" room. Although, a pilot has the discretion to decide otherwise, but His chief flight operations control officer provides Him with the best option having considered several scenarios.

It would be expected that a pilot who left Lagos barely 1hr ago, making an In Flight Turn Back, IFTB, would want to head to Lagos ( if possible) as Lagos is a hub used by over 60 international airlines, hence there is the likelihood that an Alliance member would have spares or technicians on ground that can provide needed help and it would be much easier to find an Aircraft that can ferry your passengers from Lagos to Morocco within hours than say in Ghana or Senegal!

So I really do not see what the loud cries are all about as the Pilot only took precautionary measures by returning back to Lagos. Of course B737-800 could have made that flight with one engine, depending on whether ETOPS is a factor considered ETOPS are considered in a flight path like Lagos to Morocco.

@Omo_Tier1:

I don't think that many of NL'ers know what ETOPS means

But generally I agree with you 100%. Educate, educate, educate.

My elder sister and husband were among the passengers. Help me thank God Nairalanders.

@Okpara,
1 hour flight time is too risky to manage an aircraft with engine failure.
In such a case the nearest airport or airfield will do.
This is the same mentality drivers like you(that's if you drive) apply and end up killing innocent people.

okpara ugo:

For your mind, the pilot for land for China, Burkina-faso abi inside bush?