An unruly air passenger yesterday caused a stir in a Sokoto-bound Air Nigeria, Virgin Nigeria VK041.
The passenger, a middle age man, whose name was not given, had caused an uproar when the aircraft was taxing on the runway, preparatory for take-off. He was said to have refused to be calmed down; a situation that forced the captain of the aircraft to return to the apron of the domestic wing of the airport.
An official of the airline, who pleaded anonymity told The Guardian that immediately the aircraft taxied to the apron, a combined team of security operatives, aircraft inspectors from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and officials of the airline swooped on the airplane, disembarked the passengers and discharged all the luggage to ensure that no bomb was planted on board the plane.
The Guardian learnt that the man was handed over to security operatives for further questioning.
For the period the event lasted, some of the passengers said they were shocked with his action. The delay lasted for three hours as the aircraft finally departed at noon yesterday.
His action is regarded as air rage in aviation parlance, a new label for extreme misbehaviour by passengers.
Frequently covered in the world’s media, cases of air rage and misconduct appear to be happening often. In reality, incidences of air rage are no more common than 20 years ago, only now there is a heightened awareness within the industry to report such cases.
Commenting on the incident, the Director-General of NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren, said he was happy that the airline complied with standard procedures by doing the right thing.
Demuren lauded the decision by the crew to return to the apron, saying “we don’t know what he has dropped inside the aircraft, that was why the plane had to go back to base and we ordered thorough checks”.
His words: “They tried to calm the passenger down but he became restive and what did they do? They felt that they could not continue with the passengers on the trip. After everything was sorted out, the aircraft returned to base. I was very happy the way it was handled. The aircraft was almost taxing off and immediately it returned to base and security operatives moved to place and took the passenger.”
Media officer for the airline, Sam Ogbogoro in a statement yesterday, confirmed that there was a case of unruly behaviour by a passenger aboard VK041 flight to Sokoto, which led to the re-screening of both passengers and the aircraft in line with standard procedures.