The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has confirmed an engine failure incident involving a Rano Air aircraft with registration number 5N-BZY, which occurred during a recent flight.
This was disclosed by the NCAA Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, in a statement posted to his verified X (formerly Twitter) account on Monday.
According to Achimugu, the aircraft experienced a malfunction on its No. 1 engine, which led to smoke being observed in both the cabin and the flight deck.
“The Rano aircraft 5N-BZY experienced a failure on its engine 1. Smoke was noticed in the cabin and flightdeck. Oxygen masks were donned,” he stated.
He noted that appropriate emergency protocols were promptly activated to manage the situation, and the pilot safely landed the aircraft without any injuries or further complications.
“Smoke dissipated. Pilot safely landed the aircraft without incident,” Achimugu said.
As a precautionary measure, he stated that the NCAA Directorate of Airworthiness has ordered the aircraft to remain grounded pending a thorough investigation.
“The NCAA Directorate of Airworthiness instructed that the aircraft 5N-BZY remain grounded until the conclusion of investigations,” the statement read.
The incident also had a knock-on effect on subsequent Rano Air operations. Achimugu explained that a rescue aircraft initially intended to airlift stranded passengers from Sokoto was already being used for another route.
“The rescue aircraft that was to then airlift passengers out of Sokoto had already boarded Abuja-Katsina passengers.
“It would have created problems to deboard those passengers. The flight out of Sokoto was, therefore, cancelled,” Achimugu noted.
He added that engineers are still working on the affected aircraft.
“5N-BYZ is still on the ground with engineers working on it,” he confirmed.
Addressing concerns about aviation safety in Nigeria, Achimugu emphasised that the NCAA places the highest priority on safety and often exceeds global standards in its response to potential risks.
“The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, prioritises safety. The records are clear. More advanced countries have worse air incidents than Nigeria because, here, flights will get cancelled if there is the slightest concern about safety,” he said.
A video previously shared by Emma Ikumeh on X shows the aircraft halted on the runway as officials gathered around it.
“Something quite intriguing, or rather disturbing, happened today in Sokoto. One of the engines of a Rano Air aircraft en route from Kano to Sokoto caught fire
mid-air. Thankfully, the pilot managed to land the plane safely in Sokoto using the other engine…,” he wrote.
“However, shockingly, after just a few “touch-ups,” the management of Rano Air cleared the same aircraft to fly passengers back to Kano. What kind of negligence is this?
“Unfortunately, just a few minutes after takeoff, the aircraft couldn’t hold up any longer and was forced to make a U-turn back to Sokoto Airport.”