A Turkish Airline Plane Registration Number 606 yesterday lasted over one hour and 15 minutes in the space of Kampala soon after it took off from Entebbe International Airport where it landed before its destinations in Turkey.
The Turkish Air craft – A333 which took off at 7:30am for a flight which was meant to last about 5hours and a half before it’s final destination but could not make headway as it made a space collision with birds, destabilizing the campus directions and causing engine malfunction, according to experts.
This called for am immediate emergency landing but since the aircraft had just taken off, experts say it was still heavy with the fuel which it was meant to consume before touching the ground safely. So the cabin crew decided to hover the plane over Mukono District, rotated about Kampala and later landed at the Entebbe Airport in an emergency diversion.
Ms Sheila Ajok Lubangakene,the acting spokesperson of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) told this publication yesterday that,
“The Turkish Air craft experienced a collision with the birds and the Pilots requested to land but before they landed, the Air craft had to hover around Kampala for over an hour to utilize the fuel in the tank and be made lighter to be able to return and land as a safety measure.”
She added, “Once any aircraft lands with its tank full, the chances of an accident are higher and it’s more risky of the aircraft catching fire that’s why the pilots had to fly around Kampala to use the fuel. The aircraft landed at 8:52 am, engineers did the inspection and the craft was not affected by the bird strike. The 271 passengers and a team of 10 crew were well and the Plane set off at 10:59 am for Istanbul.”
Why it happened
Entebbe Airport is neighbored by the World’s most fresh water body – Lake Victoria, experiences equatorial rainfall and this has not only greatly attracted the presence of birds but also the availability of food and roosting grounds around L. Victoria and other human activities have as well enticed both local and wandering bird species which is a threat to Air transport at the Airport.
The two engine version of the aircraft does not normally dump fuel however the only time it is done is at extremely emergency situations especially soon after departure because the takeoff weight is usually higher than landing weight.
The aircraft finally made another attempt to the sky at 10:59am and successfully landed in Istanbul at 4:30pm.
