- Add new comment
- 245 views
Kenya’s privately-owned airline, Silverstone Air has come out to defend its safety record following a number of flight incidents in the past month.
On Monday, the company indicated it had successfully completed more than 10,000 trips since it was established in 2013.
During the time, the airline flew over 1 million passengers to various destinations in the country including Mombasa, Lamu, Kisumu, Malindi, Ukunda and Lodwar.
Silverstone Accountable Manager Sheila Muturi said the airline has activated mitigating measures aimed at mechanical mishaps.
“All our aircraft will continue to be held to the highest possible safety standard and safety actions have been taken with an intention of preventing a recurrence,” she said without giving details.
Three weeks ago, nine people sustained injuries after a Silverstone plane carrying 55 passengers skidded off the runway at Wilson Airport in Nairobi shortly after taking off.
On Monday, a plane run by the same airline was forced to make an emergency landing at Eldoret International Airport after a wheel dropped off midair. The wheel fell off moments after taking off from Lodwar Airstrip.
The incident happened days after a Silverstone plane hit and damaged another aircraft parked at Wilson Airport on Sunday.
“We have implemented a safety management system which is a regulatory requirement for every operator,” said Ms. Muturi.
About the wheel that dropped off, Ms. Muturi said “it was a wheel bearing failure. It was a mechanical issue that we have no control of. As a mitigating measure, we inspected our entire fleet.”
Silverstone head of maintenance, Victor Gatheru said: “The life of an aircraft is not dependent on the number of years that it has been in operation.”
“What determines the service of an aircraft is the number of cycles it has made. For instance, the aircraft that lost its wheel has 80,000 cycles put down by the manufacturer. It is not even halfway.”
Ministry of Transport’s Air Accident Investigations Department has already launched an audit of the airline, following the incidents.
My professional advice to V. Gatheri and Ms. Muturi: don't give excuses and quotes when the client's safety is compromised! The company had two issues where customer safety was compromised within a month and they have balls to come and lecture us that the plane wasn't halfway 80k cycles; really!! Dude, maintenance has to be done before the plane departs and lands the destination.