Passengers aboard an Air Peace aircraft flying from Lagos to Anambra managed to escape death after its engine stopped working three times at take-off point on Wednesday afternoon.

FIJ gathered that the aircraft, which was scheduled to take off at 11 am, was delayed for two hours after the management of the airline had earlier announced that the plane originally scheduled for the Anambra trip had suddenly developed fault.

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Olu Ayinla (not real name), one of the passengers who was onboard, told FIJ that the management of the airline had announced that they were waiting for another plane that was coming from Warri as replacement.

“I got to the airport around 5 am because the trip was scheduled for 11 am but the management of Air Peace said that the flight to convey us to Anambra was faulty and so we would travel with the one coming from Warri,”Ayinla told FIJ.

“Around 2 pm, they brought another plane and as we entered and settled in, its engines went off two times. Are they trying to kill us? They want us to fly and die?

“The pilot and engineers tried to convince us that all was well, but everyone could see that things were not right. They simply wanted to risk our lives and kill everyone.”

A source, who also simply wished to be identified as ‘Professor’, told FIJ that passenger boarding was delayed for two hours because of technical issues and that the flight crew ‘struggled’ with the plane before take-off.

“Air Peace asked for 15 minutes to fix a technical issue but they ended up wasting two hours of our time. When we boarded, five minutes after settling-in, the engine went off and they restarted it,” Professor said.

“I noticed how much they were struggling with the plane. They would restart it only for it to stop again. At some point, they had even shut the door before the engines went off completely.

“There and then, I knew the plane was not in good shape and stood up immediately.”

A third source, who also asked not to be named, told FIJ that the airline did not offer explanations on the technical issues the plane had.

“The engine stopped three times and there was no explanation until passengers asked to be allowed to leave the plane. The captain only gave a vague explanation when the passengers expressed their concerns. He said the DAC or something similar to that went off on us.

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“I think Air Peace is becoming too comfortable. This was supposed to be a substitute plane as the first couldn’t be used for technical reasons. If this lackadaisical attitude continues, I fear they may record a crash soon.

“If we had flown today, we likely would have crashed.”

FIJ made several phone calls to Air Peace for comments on the incident, but all its official lines were not available. A text message sent had also not been responded to at press time.