The General said he was not worried at all.
In an interview with Premium Times, he explained:
”I was on Ethiopian Airline. Rain just came down heavily. The pilot thought he could land. And he landed. He touched down. But I think he took a swift decision that he had to take off again. So he took off. If he did not, I think he probably would have overrun the runway. He then apologised and said he would try to land again. He tried again, and we landed safely. And we all clapped. He touched the ground. Then he took off and apologised and landed again at about 12.30. We spent just about 10 minutes in the air before we landed again.
“While it all happened, I was reading my papers. One man, who was next to me, said, ‘Oga you no worry?’ I said, ‘Íf I worry, what will I do? If you are on a plane and you have a situation like this, why should you worry?’ I left everything in the hands of God.”
Ethiopian Airlines on Wednesday confirmed that its ET901/29 flight made an aborted landing at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The General Manager of the Nigeria operations of the airline, Mrs Firihiewot Mekonnen, in a statement, blamed the incident on bad weather.
Mekonnen said the aircraft, carrying 393 passengers from Addis Ababa to Lagos, encountered bad weather during landing, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
She said the aircraft had to make a go-around-the-airport for better and smooth landing, in line with aviation procedure.
“On a second attempt, it made a safe and normal landing. According to safety standards, pilots are encouraged to make a similar go-around in such cases.
“However, some media incorrectly reported this standard safety precautionary go-around,” Mekonnen said.
The General Manager, Public Relations of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Mr Sam Adurogboye, also confirmed the incident, saying however, that the aircraft did not overshoot the runway.
“Ethiopian Airlines came into Lagos at a time it was raining and reduced visibility, hence it had to go back and hovered for a while.
“Finally, it came back and landed safely,” he said
