Yemisi Izuora
Air Peace has scaled a major regulatory hurdle in its path to international flight services, successfully performing the partial emergency evacuation and ditching demonstrations as part of the safety tests for the operation of its Boeing 777 aircraft.
Emergency aircraft evacuation refers to an exercise aimed at evacuating those on an aircraft during emergencies on the ground, in water or mid-flight.
The ditching demonstration, however, simulates a planned water landing and evaluates the airline’s ability to handle such emergency.
An emergency evacuation demonstration is mostly required when an airline proposes operating a specific aircraft type and model entering into its service for the first time.
Once the signal for is given, the aircraft’s emergency evacuation equipment and 50 percent of the required emergency exits and slides must be ready for use in a maximum of 15 seconds.
Although simulated, evacuation drills are a risky operation for crew and other participants – often leading to injury of varying degrees.
Air Peace recently acquired four Boeing 777 for its long-haul operations to destinations including Dubai, Sharjah, London, Houston, Guangzhou-China, Mumbai and Johannesburg.
The airline made history as the first Nigerian carrier to acquire and register the Boeing 777 in the country.
Being the first time the Boeing 777 was entering its service, Air Peace was mandated by aviation regulations to demonstrate its capacity to handle emergency evacuation and ditching under the close supervision of officials of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) comprising Group Capt. E.C Agu, Capt. Ejike Wosu, Mr. Augustine Eboigbe, Mr. Rabiu Sharif, Mohammed Auwal, Hajara Yahaya, Msooityo Malu, Prewari Yemaye, Mrs. Famous-Cole, Efunfela Ojekale, Maria Udor, Bosede Tagarino, Kunle Martins and Basira Lami.
Air Peace emergency demonstrators in the flight deck included Capt Simon Donoghue, Capt Ndubisi Ekwempu, First Officer Femi Aderomu and First Officer Ahmed Abdullahi. Members of the Cabin Crew comprised Pauline Aiya-Obaze,