An Overland plane bound for Abuja from Ibadan was forced to make an emergency landing in Lagos, after a serious fault developed.
A crack in the outer layer windshield of the plane caused the pilot to turn the plane around although it had almost reached Abuja.
57 passengers including a former Nigerian Union of Journalists President, Lanre Ogundipe were saved from a disaster due to the quick thinking of the pilot.
Ogundipe said the plane was seemingly in good condition before departure.
“We started well but midway around Minna in Niger State, the pilot made a detour to Lagos, which was strange. We later got to know that the windshield broke and the flight could not continue for long,” he said.
The passengers were disembarked from the faulty plane and put on a replacement which ferried them to Abuja later that afternoon.
Managing Director of Overland Airways, Captain Edward Boyo said the incident was not a major one but just a logical discretion on the part of the pilot to return to where the plane could be fixed.
He said, “It is not true that our aircraft made an emergency landing in Lagos because of the broken windshield. It was not true also that it made a detour in Minna. The information was wrong. The plane left our hangar in Lagos for Ibadan today and was on its way to Abuja when the pilot discovered that that the outer pane had cracked.
“He could have continued if it would be possible to change the pane in Abuja or Ibadan, but in his technical wisdom, he returned to Lagos where it could only be fixed. It was not technically a major incident. It would be a major incident if the inner pane had cracked.”