The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Tabu Butagira
23 April 2008
Entebbe — A total of 120 passengers and crew members aboard a Kenyan Airways plane were on Monday morning thrown into panic when the aircraft made an off-the-mark touch down at Entebbe International Airport in hazy weather.
A tyre of the plane reportedly burst as it missed target landing on the terminal, sparking commotion among passengers flying in from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Shocked aviation and support staff looked on in disbelief.
"Kenya Airways would like to confirm that one of its jets Boeing 737-300 was this [yesterday] morning involved in an incident at the Entebbe International Airport," Mr Daniel Maundu, the KQ country manager in Uganda said.
?However, none of the 113 passengers and 7 crew members was harmed and there was no dent to the aircraft, the official said.
In an e-mail message sent to Daily monitor late yesterday, Mr Maundu dismissed initial reports that the incident was due to a power unit failure.
?"That is false," he said, "Owing to heavy downpour and poor visibility [at] Entebbe [International airport], the pilot landed long and into the runway."
And added: "The plane suffered a deflated tyre as a result of this action". Following the mishap, the management of the airline cancelled the 5am KQ 417 return flight to Nairobi.
The rescheduling of the flight was attributed to a "technical reason."
The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, the body that keeps watch over aviation business in the country, yesterday said it was not aware of the KQ plane incident.
Mr Vianney Luggya, the CAA deputy publicist, said nothing in the direction of an accident happened with the KQ 410 as it landed.
The incident has, however, cast doubt on aviation safety standards at the aerodrome facility that is lately registering increased flight glitches.
On March 1 this year, a British Airways plane that was carrying 193 passengers, including Vice President Gilbert Bukenya had a botched take off due to a "suspected technical fault with an indicator light".
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