Arik makes air turn back over potential fire in cargo aft area

A B737-700 aircraft belonging to Arik Air Thursday morning made an air return following the detection of an indication light suggesting a potential fire in the aft cargo area.

An air return or turn back is a situation where an aircraft returns to land at the departure aerodrome without having initially planned to do so.

The most common reason for air turnback is an emergency or abnormal during or shortly after take-off, the most common being engine failure.

If the problem happens during acceleration, the crew might attempt to reject the take-off depending on the speed and the nature of the emergency. Sometimes a safer option is to get airborne and then make an approach and land.

The flight W3 720 from Lagos to Abuja incident happened approximately 10 minutes after take-off, prompting the captain of the flight to adhere to standard operating procedures by initiating an air return and requesting priority landing clearance from the control tower.

The management of the airline in a statement said upon landing safely in Lagos, passengers were disembarked and the aircraft underwent thorough inspections to ensure its airworthiness for future flight operations.

The subsequent investigation by the airline’s maintenance team the carrier said determined that the indication light was triggered by a false alarm.

“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience experienced by our esteemed passengers as a result of this incident.”

Wole Shadare