2 Air Peace aircrafts 'collide' hours after Aero contractor's accident

Two aircrafts belonging to Air Peace reportedly collided while trying to manoeuvre their way around the tarmac of the local terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.

In a report by Premium Times, the spokesperson for Air Peace, Chris Iwarah, said that the collision occurred around 6.15 a.m. when its B737 aircraft with registration number 5N-BQR had “partial contact” with another B737 aircraft with registration number 5N-BQP.

In his words: “Although the points of contact of the two aircraft were only slightly impacted, we took the cautious decision to declare them unserviceable to enable proper investigation of the incident, checks and repair by our Engineering and Maintenance Department in line with our high safety standards.”

Continuing, Iwarah further said: “There were no passengers on the two aircraft involved in the incident. We have also revised our flight schedule to cater to our esteemed guests on the 14 sectors the two aircraft were scheduled to service today."

However, Sam Adurogboye, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has said that the aircrafts didn't collide but merely grazed each other.

In his words: “What happened was that one aircraft was packed. The other aircraft was trying to taxi and the wings of the one coming in touched the wings of the one on ground,” he said.

“If two airplanes collide, they will be on fire. But the two aircraft were both on ground and they have to repair the damage and we have to check them all over again before they can be cleared to return to service,” he reportedly said.

On Wednesday, April 19, 2017, an Aero Contractor aircraft was engulfed in smoke while trying to land at the airport in Lagos.