Another Boeing 737 Max 8 makes emergency landing…As Air Peace deploys Boeing 737 plane to Asaba Airport

The troubled Boeing 737 Max 8 airliner, that has recorded two tragic crashes in five months, was in the news again as it made an emergency landing shortly after take-off from Orlando, Florida.

According to a report by UPI, there were two persons- the pilots- on board Southwest Airlines Flight 8701 when it took off around 3 p.m. from Orlando International Airport. They were taking the plane for storage in Victorville, California.

Rod Johnson, spokesman for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, said the pilots experienced engine problems about 10 minutes after take-off.

“The crew followed protocol and safely landed back at the airport,” a Southwest Airlines statement said.

The statement said the airline plans to move the plane to its Orlando maintenance facility for evaluation.

The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating the cause of Tuesday’s problems.

The incident comes two weeks after President Donald Trump ordered the FAA to ground all Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft in the wake of two deadly crashes of the model.

A crash March 10 near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killed all 157 people on board. An Indonesian Lion Air flight in October killed 189. In both cases, the plane crashed shortly after take-off.

Black box data from the Ethiopian Airlines crash showed “clear similarities” to the Lion Air Crash.

The data showed an erratic flight path during the 6 minutes that the plane was in the air before it crashed. According to the data, the plane ascended and descended and then ascended again, while traveling at speeds exceeding normal take-off procedure.

A preliminary report about the causes of the Lion Air crash released in November showed the Boeing manoeuvring characteristics augmentation system pushed the nose of the plane down, forcing the pilots to pull the nose back up more than a dozen times throughout the 11-minute flight

Meanwhile, Air Peace, Nigerian carrier has deployed a Boeing 737 aircraft to service its Asaba operations to meet passenger demand on the route.

The airline’s Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah, who made the disclosure on Wednesday in Lagos, said the B737 aircraft would support the airline’s 50-seater Embraer 145 jets, which had been servicing the carrier’s Lagos-Asaba-Lagos and Abuja-Asaba-Abuja routes.

He said the deployment of a B737 aircraft on the route would afford air travellers the advantage of a bigger space.

“We relaunched our Lagos-Asaba operations and added Abuja to the route on Oct. 8, 2018. We promised then that we will deliver nothing but the best of flight services.

“Barely five months since we returned to the Asaba route, we have demonstrated beyond doubt that we are in the airline business to make a difference.

“In five months, our flights have brought relief to leisure and business travellers on the Lagos-Asaba-Lagos and Abuja-Asaba-Abuja routes.

“We have been inundated with requests to increase the capacity of our aircraft on the Asaba route,” Iwarah said in a statement.

According to him, as a customer-centric airline, Air Peace has yielded to the demands of the flying public by deploying the B737 aircraft on the route in addition to the 50-seater Embraer jets currently in use.

He said customers could now take more luggage with them and enjoy the comfort of a bigger space, stressing that the airline was committed to their safety and comfort.

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