A passenger plane on Monday caused a scare after a wheel dropped
off midair, moments after take-off from Lodwar airstrip in Turkana
County, northern Kenya.
The rear right wheel came off
the Silverstone Air plane like a stone and dropped outside the airstrip
located some 500 kilometres from the capital Nairobi.
The bombardier Dash 8-300, registration number 5YBWG, had four passengers and five crew members on board.
"The
wheel was collected by members of public several metres outside the
airport,” Turkana Central Sub County Police Commander David Mburukwa
told the Nation.
“It was recovered and taken to airport's managers office.”
On
discovering the emergency, police in Lodwar alerted their counterparts
and emergency services at Moi International Airport in Eldoret, who put
in place measures to receive the plane with passengers and crew in
distress.
The craft, which took off at 9.18am from Lodwar to Nairobi, made
the emergency landing in Eldoret a few minutes to 10am East African
time.
Police and emergency services workers evacuated
the craft, with some passengers, who said they had been informed of the
mishap, looking traumatised.
In a statement, Silverstone Air confirmed the incident, saying the plane lost “the number 3 wheel assembly”.
"The
captain of the flight decided to divert to Eldoret International
Airport in the interests of the continued safety of the passengers and
the crew. This was a precautionary action and the aircraft landed
safely," the airline's management said.
Dangers
The
airline said it had activated its contingency plans and the customers
affected were rebooked and have since landed safely in Nairobi.
With
the missing wheel, the nine people on board were in real danger because
on Bombardier Dash 8-300s, rear wheels shoulder the bulk of the plane’s
weight during take-off and landing.
The rear pair of
wheels is very close to centre of gravity and carries most of the
aircraft's weight, as the nose wheel carries a small fraction of it.
The missing wheel could also affect the plane’s balance and stability while in flight and more so during landing.
This is the second incident to rock the operations, and dent the air safety record, of Silverstone Air in a month.
On
October 11, nine people were hurt, with three suffering
life-threatening injuries, after the airline’s Fokker 50 skidded off the
runway at Wilson Airport in Nairobi.
Witnesses say the
aircraft with 50 passengers and five crew members on board lost its way
during take-off to Mombasa on its way to the coastal city of Lamu.
The
cause of the skid was not immediately established but some pilots who
spoke to the Nation in confidence said they suspected that one of the
plane's two engines failed.
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