Why Air Peace returned midair, declared ‘MAYDAY’ to Lagos ACC in November ─Report

Isola Moses

As part of its recent preliminary report on investigated air accidents, the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has published another serious incident report involving the Air Peace aircraft’s B737-500 with the registration number: 5N-BUJ.

In the latest report, ConsumerConnect learnt that the aircraft with 84 passengers and six crew members as of the time of the incident lost an engine while airborne en-route to Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, Imo State capital, November 5, 2019, from the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.

At 23,000ft, there was a loud bang in the aircraft, which triggered its automation to go off, and it lost Engine Two while the aircraft veered a little to the right, the report revealed.

According to the report, there was a second bang few seconds after the first one from the same aircraft, which affected Engine One, made the crew to make air return to base immediately and declared ‘MAYDAY’ to the Lagos Area Control Centre (ACC).

“At about 23,000ft, I heard a loud bang and the automation went off and the airplane veered a little to the right.

“The second bang came few seconds after the first, and we quickly glanced at the primary engine instrument panel and noticed that N2 indication was zero.

“N1 was also rapidly decreasing and was at about 30 percent, while we were climbing. Post occurrence inspection revealed the malfunctioned engine to be No.2,” the report stated.

The report further disclosed that “the flight crew identified the occurrence as ‘severe engine damage’ and in response, carried out memory items before consulting the Quick Reference Handbook (QRH).

“At 07:46:32hrs, the crew declared ‘MAYDAY’ (emergency) to ACC, requesting to stop climbing and make an air return to Lagos, which was granted.”