A Dana Airlines plane on Friday evening hit a fence at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja after operating a flight from Port Harcourt.
The plane with registration number 5N-DEV hit the fence with its left wing while trying to park.
No passenger was hurt in the incident, which was blamed on pilot error.
A source said: “The Dana plane hit its wing on a fence while trying to park after it landed at the airport. This happened around 4.30pm and the number of the aircraft is 5N-DEV. The plane came into Abuja from Port Harcourt. The plane has not been towed up till this moment (5.33pm).
“From what we see on the ground, it’s like the pilot is the one at fault because he has refused to disembark from the plane. All the passengers have disembarked without any injury, but the pilot is still on the plane right now as I speak with you. After he landed the plane, he moved the aircraft to where it should be parked but struck an iron fence in the process.”
Spokesperson for the Federal Airports Authority of nigeria, Henrietta Yakubu, confirmed the incident but said the plane hit a noise breaker at the airport.
“There are these things we put on the air side that we call noise breakers to stop noise and exhaust from getting to people. It is not really a fence, but they are just there like pillars to reduce noise and fumes from exhaust pipes and the plane just scrapped it and continued on its way.
“So there is nothing to worry about the incident. It didn’t affect the flight, the plane continued and it parked. It was the wing that scrapped the noise breaker and the plane continued until it parked.”
Dana engineers worked overnight Friday to ascertain the extent of damage and fix it.
