Airport security lapse and the pilot who overslept

By Levi Obijiofor

Friday, 12 September 2008

There used to be a time when domestic air travel in Nigeria was reserved for bullies – men and women who had the strength to push and shove, as well as the acerbic tongue to swear and curse. Disorderly conduct by passengers and preferential treatment of travellers by airline staff were the accepted ways of getting things done at the airport. In those days, the departure halls and check-in counters at the domestic terminal in Lagos looked like temporary centres for the rehabilitation of victims of natural disasters. It was impossible to get passengers to queue to check in, to receive their boarding pass or to board the aircraft.

Every passenger seemed to be in a hurry. And it was this impatience that fuelled misconduct by passengers and morally depraved airline staff. It was normal practice for irate passengers to exchange insults with airline staff at check-in counters. Only the fittest survived the mayhem while the weak bought the services of touts.  It was an atmosphere that favoured the modus operandi of touts.

In some of the most bizarre features of air travel across the country in the 1980s, checked-in passengers often darted from the departure hall to an aircraft on the tarmac, even before official boarding announcement had been made. In most cases, the exercise turned out to be a false start. Once they realized their foolery, the passengers hissed and trooped back to the departure hall.  

A combination of corrupt practices by airline staff and a culture of impatience influenced the chaotic scenes at the airports in those days. Passengers were compelled to dash to the wrong aircraft on the tarmac because of corrupt deals by airline staff who collected money from passengers and then issued more boarding passes than the number of seats available for each flight. It was common to see passengers holding genuine boarding passes and seat numbers and yet they could not fly. Those were the years of inglorious business deals in the domestic airline industry.  

Now some order has been restored. Some domestic airline operators have lifted their performances. Booking and payment for tickets have also been simplified. Passengers can now book and pay for their tickets on the Internet, thus eliminating the middlemen and touts who clogged the ticketing counters at the airports.

For all the positive changes that have been introduced in the domestic airline industry, there are certain blots that still need to be cleaned up. Touts continue to embarrass and harass passengers at the entry and departure points of domestic airports in Nigeria. The same applies at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos. The introduction of positive changes has not eliminated occasional breaches of professional performance by airline staff.

Consider this utterly unimpressive behaviour by an Arik Air pilot who was scheduled to fly passengers to Enugu on the morning of Tuesday, August 12, 2008. Everyone boarded the aircraft on time. But the aircraft lay on the tarmac with the engines shut. Flight W3 301 was scheduled to depart the old terminal of the Lagos domestic airport at 7.10am but it didn’t happen. For nearly an hour, none of the cabin crew considered it appropriate to inform passengers about the reasons for the delay. Arik Air customers do not have to put up with this insult.

To leave passengers seated inside an aircraft with no information or explanation for more than an hour was not only contemptuous of the passengers but it also showed how poorly Arik Air cabin crew and management treated their customers. Poor customer service in a competitive airline industry is the easiest way to kill a business. When an explanation was given later, it came in the form of a palpable lie. A female crew member announced to distraught passengers that the delay was caused by “operational reasons”. The announcement was greeted with hisses. No one understood the meaning of the phrase -- “operational reasons”. The real cause of the delay came exactly one hour and forty five minutes later.

A shuttle bus from the Arik Air fleet sped to the plane and disgorged its lone passenger. It was the pilot. As soon as he jumped out of the bus, he raced through the steps to the cockpit of the aircraft. No sooner did he settle into the cockpit than he offered a more authentic reason for the delay. He said he was solely responsible for the delay. He overslept, he explained, because his alarm clock did not go off. Passengers burst out laughing. The pilot said it was his duty manager who woke him from sleep and alerted him that he was already late for his first assignment for the day. He pleaded for forgiveness.

Beyond the explanation, there were other more troubling questions. Was the pilot physically and psychologically fit to operate the Boeing 737-700 series aircraft to Enugu? If the pilot was woken up from sleep, as he confessed, did he have sufficient sleep to be in the right frame of mind to operate the aircraft? Only the Arik Air management could explain the decision to allow a pilot who was roused from sleep to take control of an aircraft for a 50-minute flight to Enugu.

While Arik Air may have treated its passengers in a contemptible manner, there are other aspects of domestic air travel in Nigeria which requires urgent attention. Perhaps much more worrying for obvious security implications is the constant request for money by airport security staff whose responsibility it is to screen passengers and their hand luggage at various domestic airports in the country.

In each of the airports that I passed through during my recent trip – Lagos, Enugu, Owerri, Warri and not to forget the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos -- I found security staff who were supposed to be screening passengers and their hand luggage were busy soliciting money from passengers. As soon as you drop your hand luggage and other personal items into the scanner, you will hear the security staff say something like: “Anything for us, sir?” “Any spare naira for us, sir?” Or: “Have a wonderful weekend, sir” (even when it is midweek).

I had a particularly sickening experience on Sunday, 31 August, at the international airport in Lagos. The woman who searched my luggage prior to check-in asked if I had some naira notes left for her. I was surprised by the bold request because I didn’t enter into any contract to give her money, particularly as I had never seen her before. She looked upset and shot a glance at me. For a moment, we were locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball exchange. If I had some naira notes in my wallet, why would I give it to an airport staff that I didn’t know? Why would anyone give out some naira notes that would be useful during their next visit?

Another encounter with airport security screening staff occurred at Owerri airport on 29 August. As soon as I checked in my luggage and moved toward the security screening point, a young woman in uniform dashed toward me and offered to escort me to the VIP lounge. I told her I was no VIP and that I needed no special assistance. She left but not before muttering some offensive remark. As my bag was being screened, the security staff -- a man and a woman – concentrated more on talking with me and asking for some “weekend change” rather than watching the security scanner for the contents of my hand luggage. It should never have happened. The security of air travelers must not be compromised.

Airport security staff who solicit money from passengers at the screening point are in breach of security protocols. They pose a serious threat to the safety and comfort of passengers. When airport security staff request money from passengers rather than concentrate on screening the passengers and their hand luggage, airport security is compromised in the same way that passengers’ lives are jeopardised. By constantly requesting for gratification of any kind from passengers, airport security staff may inadvertently send a message to terrorists that their integrity can be compromised. It is a dreadful scenario that haunts anyone who is mindful of the state of security at the country’s airports.

Robot  Villager

# 1 ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 12.09.2008 07:51

Domeremember  Villager

# 2 The aviation industry is a very sensitive one and not everything should be allowed. But how will our leaders know about all these problems when they are whisked through the VIP lounge before you can say Yar'Adua? Posted by Domeremember| 12.09.2008 08:26

afrobabe  JJC

# 3 LMAO...I really cant stop laughing at the pilot...I would have come down sharpish from that plane... Posted by afrobabe| 12.09.2008 08:56

aguabata  Villager

# 4 my brother I dont know what to say, But these bargage handlers are really hungry, could it be that because our society encourages reliance on relatives and wealthier individuals it is acting as a pressure release valve to our much expected social revolution. Posted by aguabata| 12.09.2008 13:35

omo naija  Villager

# 5 this show that terrorists can easily hijack planes at our airports? can you imagine what they will do with such dangerous weapon? 9/11 comes to mind, this article is a wake up call to our sleeping government, that the world today is more dangerous than ever... God help us. MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS NIGERIA AND AFRICA, AND HAVE MERCY ON THE TROUBLED CONTINENT, AMEN. Posted by omo naija| 12.09.2008 13:51

frankify  JJC

# 6 This is a bad omen and a wake up call to those in Authority. something drastic must be done to change this behaviour from the security staff. considering the world we r leaving at now u never know who is reading this article.......... Posted by frankify| 12.09.2008 20:17

Gbolly  Villager

# 7 This is very bad...the pilot over slept? I don't know what l would have done if l was in the plane. Thank God the plane landed safely. As for the security people asking & begging for money when they should be screening passengers, that would tell you the extent of poverty in Nigeria. People are starving. Because a person goes to work in Nigeria does not equate to being paid a salary at month end or any period of the month. An employee may not be paid his salary for many months because the stupid oga (boss) has placed the salary into a bank saving account to generate interest income for himself. Can you believe that? I am a witness to such selfishness. When the employee demanded for his salary from the boss. The boss reply was "what do you need the money for?" Posted by Gbolly| 12.09.2008 21:54

abdulmumin  Villager

# 8 The airline should have a back up pilot if for any reason its first choice pilot is not available. Having said this, me thinks that the pilot exhibited a high degree of integrity which is not common place in Nigeria. He could have spurn any yarn but he chose to speak the truth. This is commendable and much as it could be considered in some quarters as irresponsible, it suggests to me a strength of character that the very people who steer the affairs of Nigeria so lack. Posted by abdulmumin| 13.09.2008 11:48