‘Young Engineer Saved Us’- Joe Abah Recounts Experience Boarding Ibom Air Aircraft With Bad Landing Gear

Development Alternatives Inc’s (DAI) Country Director for Nigeria, Joe Abah has hailed a ‘diligent’ ground engineer who saved Ibom Air passengers who boarded a certain aircraft scheduled for 7am flight on Thursday.

The former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms gave the accolades as he recounted his experience after boarding a flight from Lagos to Abuja.

In a post shared on X, seen by THE WHISTLER, the DAI country director narrated that after boarding, the flight was about to taxi when an engineer interrupted with a heavy knock on the aircraft’s door.

Abah narrated, “I boarded a 7am @ibomairlines flight in Lagos this morning, heading to Abuja. My brother @seunonigbinde was on the same flight and we had chatted briefly about work. Aircraft door was shut, phones switched off, and ready for takeoff.

“As we were about to start taxiing, there was a loud knock on the aircraft door from outside. We all wondered what it could be. The knocking got more persistent. The flight attendant had to open the door again.”

After the flight attendant opened the door, Abah said a ground engineer rushed “in and those of us in front clearly heard him say ‘You can’t go. Your landing gear is bad.”

He explained that to dowse tension, “The pilot made a ‘political’ announcement that they needed to perform some additional checks before take-off and apologised for the delay. He spoke with the engineer and, a few seconds later, announced that we were to disembark.

“I thank God that we have the systems in place to check this and avert potential disaster. And that we have some diligent Nigerians who take their work seriously.

“If you are that young Nigerian engineer, God will bless you abundantly.”

THE WHISTLER had reported that an aircraft belonging to Dana Air with registration 5N BKI crash landed in Lagos on Tuesday.

Following the incident, the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, suspended the airline’s operation license.