A professor at the Lagos State University, Ishaq Akintola, narrates his experience when the plane he and some passengers boarded from Lagos to Kaduna last week Friday ran into turbulence just a few minutes after take-off.
I will start by thanking Allah, because Allah says, “if you thank me, I will give you more blessings.” so if I thank him for this, He will give me more protection. Actually, the plane, Aero flight MG181 took off from Lagos about 6:30pm and in mid flight, about 20minutes into the flight, we noticed that there was trouble.
When you are in a plane and it is no longer smooth, you will know. It started with being bumpy and all of a sudden it started losing altitude and people started looking at one another in the plane. All of a sudden, the gas mask which they normally demonstrate before planes take off fell off from the cabins on our laps and people screamed because they had demonstrated it to us before we took off.
I sat on the aisle. My seat was 17D.The gas masks of the seat opposite mine failed to drop for the three passengers and they began to scream since they knew it was time to use extra material to get enough oxygen which they couldn’t get. Honestly I must commend the calmness and professionalism of the crew on that flight and they are mostly ladies. They behaved like men and they quickly came to assist the three passengers to get their masks. However, the screaming continued because the plane was wobbling and suddenly, one of the passengers called our attention to the smoke oozing out of one of the engines.


Did you see the smoke?

Though I couldn’t see it clearly because it was already late but those by the window could see it clearly. The pilot spoke told us that he had been instructed to divert from his route (Kaduna) to Abuja because Abuja was closer than Kaduna. He diverted and he told us that Abuja was about 120miles away and that it would be done in 15 minutes. About five minutes later, he corrected himself that it would be done in 25 minutes. While the pilot must be commended for carefully handling the turbulence, we were terrified as he spoke. He was not coherent, his voice trembled because he knew what happened.


Before the gas mask dropped, was there any announcement?


No, there was no announcement, it just dropped.


How many times did he address you?


He addressed us twice.
What was the reaction of the passengers?
The reaction was chaotic, the women were screaming, even a guy behind us kept shouting. I think he was angry for something else. A few were calm and praying, and to the glory of God, I was among those who were calm and praying. I prayed like I never prayed before but I didn’t scream because I know life is ephemeral.
Every soul will taste death, there is no escape from death, it doesn’t matter your age. Though no one wishes to die such kind of death but you can’t choose the kind of death you want, you can’t choose how to be born; you can’t choose where to be born. So if we have our ways, we want to choose to die in our homes, we want to choose our tombs, we want to talk to our children before we die, but in that circumstance, my thought was spontaneous.
It wasn’t my choice but from Allah we came and to Him we will return. I continued to pray as the turbulence continued until we reached Abuja. For 25 minutes people were shouting and nobody was at rest. And I want to suggest that there should be a mobile clinic in every airport because people who came out of that flight should have been treated for shock. I know of lady who sat closest to the other side of where I was. I was afraid that the lady would die of fright, she was horrified, screaming and weeping, she cried throughout.


Was she the only one crying?


She wasn’t the only one but she was the one that was close to where I was. I couldn’t see the faces of others aside hearing their screaming and prayers.
Before you got to Abuja, what were the hostesses doing?


Don’t forget that the hostesses also needed to use the masks.

I don’t know if we ever used the oxygen, the thing was on us and I was trying to know if the oxygen was there already. When you draw the string you have to feel something but I didn’t feel it. I think the oxygen mask that dropped was a kind of pre-caution just in case. Anyway, I shouldn’t judge, I wouldn’t know if I was actually using their oxygen because I’m not in that profession to know exactly what happened.


Does it mean that you didn’t have any feeling that you were using the extra oxygen?


No, I didn’t have any feeling.
When the pressure dropped, did you have any feeling that the pressure had dropped?
I didn’t have any feeling either.
So there is no difference when the pressure dropped and when you put on the gas mask?
I didn’t have any feeling.


For those 20 minutes, what were you thinking? Did you believe the pilot when he told you that you would be there in 25 minutes?


I didn’t believe we would get to Abuja. I thought this is it so let me prepare my last minutes and say my last prayer, which I did. For a Muslim, in such moment, we should communicate with Allah and give one’s testimony immediately, in case that death comes earlier than expected.
So I uttered my ‘Khelima’ and testified that I have no other God except Allah and that Mohammed is His messenger. It is Allah who gives and takes life, so that’s a testimony that I accept Allah. So if I die in that state, I would die as a Muslim. I am covered and my sins are forgiven, so after saying that I started appealling to Allah. I did a lot of prayers because I kept thinking in particular about my father. I pitied my father who marked 100 years some months ago. His prayer is that we should live on after him.
This was what I didn’t call for but at the same time Allah owns my father and I. He can take me anytime He wishes and I don’t have any choice. Others were my loved ones, my wife, and children and so on. And I knew they would overcome it (if I die) because they had been trained. Each time we pray at home, I lecture them that death can come at any time, I urge them to face their studies and not look at what daddy can do for them.


Some are saying the issue was exaggerated and there is no big deal if a plane makes air return. Did you agree to that?

I pray that those who called it exaggeration should not experience what we went through. One of my friends teased me on the phone and called me professor Ayorunbo, that is a professor who cheated death. I want to challenge the airline to make available the record of the turbulence as recorded by the aircraft. Better still, they can through the manifest invite those on board to give accounts of what they experience and let us see how many of them will controvert what I said.


Was that the first time you experienced turbulence in aircraft?


No, I have experienced turbulence. There is no way you will take a flight maybe from Abuja to Lagos that you won’t experience turbulence for some seconds. We all know what turbulence means, a plane hits the cloud and later it will go through it. But you can’t be in turbulence for 40 minutes and say it was exaggerated.


Was it up to 40 minutes?


Yes, when we took off at 6:30pm, the turbulence began about 20 minutes into the flight and also I read the Aero version of the story that the turbulence began 19 minutes into the flight. People who face imminent death, what do you think would be going on in their minds? So, if you say that they exaggerated, you are being unfair and unkind.
Neither the officials nor the average Nigerian should accuse those on board of exaggerating because it’s only those that feel it that knows it. We saw death and we came back, that was what happened and don’t forget that it was in the sky. You can’t park that plane and say let us repair it here, like you park a car by the roadside. There was no way it could be repaired, we faced death.
When they eventually announced that the


plane had landed, how did you feel?

He didn’t land easily, he was coming from rough circumstances, someone sitting close to me said the pilot was finding it difficult to land and that he couldn’t turn. In my own view, it was difficult for the tyres to come out. We give all thanks to Allah, the creator, Supreme Being, He knew why He put us through this and why He saved us and we are grateful to Him.

When you landed, what was the reaction of the people?


People danced and praised God. Personally when we landed the first thing I did was to perform prostration of appreciation of thankfulness by putting my forehead on the ground to praise Allah, and I prayed in that position before I stood up.


What did the pilot say when you landed?
Was there any arrangement made for you to continue with your journey?


When we landed, they didn’t open the door, we remained on board. The first announcement was made by one of the hostesses, she said now we are in Abuja, that the aero technician will come and repair the plane and we will continue the trip to Kaduna with the same plane.


And what was the reaction?
The reaction was spontaneous, people said: “oh no no”. Then she said anyone who wants to come down here should stand up and a large number of people stood up. Before we disembarked, they took our names through the boarding pass and registered our names, returned our boarding passes to us and asked us to go. I personally commended the members of the crew as I descended the stairs and they were very happy for my comment. Looking at the way people screamed and the hostesses going round to calm them, I think that was a height of professionalism.
And how did you return to Lagos

I took Aero on my way back to Lagos, despite the fact that people called me not to take it. I told them that after Dana Air crashed, people who have faith will still take Dana. It wasn’t their making that it crashed, and Aero didn’t create that technical fault. If people start avoiding Aero, then they are causing economic problem for that airline. Aero has been good over the years and I didn’t see why we should boycott it. I didn’t boycott it.





source.. newtelegraphonline.com/40-minutes-of-hell-in-the-sky/