– A KQ plane from Johannesburg to Nairobi developed a problem forcing the pilot to land back
– A passenger in the plane has explained the agony they went through while in air
A Kenya Airways plane (KQ) ferrying passengers from Johannesburg in South Africa to Nairobi, Kenya, developed mechanical problems after takeoff, forcing the pilot to land back to the OR Tambo airport.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Film Classification Board, Ezekiel Mutua, who was one of the passengers in the plane, the aircraft had problems during takeoff and all passengers detected it was not normal.
We took off from OR Tambo at noon yesterday Tuesday and we suspected a problem on take off but somehow we successfully settled in the skies and we’re about to exit the South African airspace towards Zimbabwe when the Captain announced a Transponder failure and said we were returning to Jo’burg,”Mutua said.
A transponder is a device in a plane for receiving radio signals and automatically transmitting a different signal.
Even after the problem was detected, landing yet again became a problem. Mutua says that the landing was supposed to take 15 minutes but an hour later they were still in the skies.
Engineers were at hand to rectify the problem,everybody was terrified.
After successfully landing, engineers at the airport embarked on rectifying the problem and two hours later, the aircraft was in the skies to Nairobi.
Upon arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), the passengers were yet again told the plane could not land and so were redirected to Mombasa.
“The Captain announced that we were being rerouted to Mombasa because the crew was approaching the IATA maximum 15 hours on duty and exceeding it would occasion penalties including withdrawal of their licenses,” Mutua said.
He went ahead to blast the national carrier for the poor services it offered the passengers and called upon the government to rectify the problems that are suspected to have plunged it into massive losses in the past few years.
Source: Tuko
