Nationwide Airlines
Press Statement
08 November 2007 – 14h30
Nationwide Airlines Salutes Pilots and Crew
Nationwide Airlines Chief Executive Officer Vernon Bricknell today complimented his entire staff and in particular the Captain and crew of Flight CE 723 for their heroic efforts in helping to maintain the company’s outstanding safety record.
Flight CE 723 was discontinued following an incident yesterday soon after take off from Cape Town International Airport.
Bricknell says this is the first major incident that the airline has experienced since taking to the skies 12 years ago.
Bricknell says he is relieved that the incident, which took place yesterday at Cape Town International Airport, did not result in injury to passengers or people on the ground.
“Upon take off of Boeing 737 Flight CE 723 yesterday at Cape Town International, the captain heard a loud noise immediately followed by a yaw of the aircraft. The captain, after confirmation of information from flight deck instrumentation that one of the engines had failed, immediately applied emergency procedures, an emergency was declared and the aircraft returned to make an emergency landing in Cape Town,” says Bricknell.
Nationwide Airlines has since determined that during the take off roll an object which is yet to be defined was ingested into the engine causing engine failure. The subsequent forces experienced by the engine supporting structure caused this to fail and for the number two engine to detach from the wing. The engine-to-wing supporting structure is designed to release the engine when extreme forces are applied to prevent any structural damage to the wing that may impair the aircraft’s ability to fly.
He reiterated the fact that the Boeing 737 aircraft is by far one of the safest aircraft in service today. “The Boeing 737 is aviation’s most successful story,” says Bricknell
According to Bricknell, there are approximately 5 000 Boeing 737 in service around the world, with one Boeing 737 taking off every 9 seconds, every day.
He says Nationwide Airlines is working with the proper authorities to establish the nature of the unidentified object and will keep the public informed as more information becomes available.
Furthermore Bricknell says Nationwide Airlines has met and surpassed local and international safety best practice standards. The airline is accredited by IOSA, the Operational Safety Audit of the International Airline Transport Association (IATA).
He says the airline industry is the most regulated sector in the world in terms of safety, training and aircraft maintenance.
‘In no other profession are skilled individuals such as pilots required to undergo testing and to demonstrate their proficiency on such a regular basis. Training encompasses a wide variety of subjects and scenarios that hopefully flight crew members will never be called upon to exercise in the operational environment. Yesterday this training paid off – the skills of the crew were called upon and procedures were carried out in a text-book fashion,” says Bricknell.
Nationwide Airlines is a privately owned airline company which flies to local, regional and international destinations.
Ends.
Thanks Deanw for the statement.