STOWAWAY DROPS FROM KENYA AIRWAYS FLIGHT IN LONDON AS LANDING GEAR EXTENDS
(Posted 02nd July 2019)
‘Egg all over their faces‘ comes to mind when reading the statement from Kenya Airways, as shown above.
Flight KQ100 from Nairobi, a Boeing B787, was in the final stages of landing at London’s Heathrow Airport when, upon lowering the landing gear a stowaway fell onto the ground in a garden in South London, which owner then informed the police. Investigations into the identity of the body are underway, also using items found inside the landing gear cavity.
It constitutes a major aviation security breach when a stowaway can climb into the landing gear of an aircraft, security for which the Kenya Airports Authority and other security organs in Kenya are responsible.
Tweeted KAA – ATCNews’ twitter account continues to be blocked by the Kenya Airport Authority and access to the tweet therefore had to come via a third party – as follows: ‘We wish to reiterate that safety and security is a priority at our airports and this incident is being treated with the seriousness it deserves‘ a claim which sounds rather hollow given the circumstances and the massive nature of this security failure.
An aircraft must be visually inspected by one of the aircraft’s cockpit crew as part of the pre-take off check list and questions are now also being asked when or if this inspection has taken place before the aircraft was cleared to close doors and push back.
Investigations in both London and Nairobi are ongoing.
Meanwhile are public and aviation sector demands emerging that aviation security at JKIA, a Category 1 approved airport by the US’ FAA – a mandatory requirement for direct flights into the United States – are given a thorough review to avoid the airport’s security ranking to be downgraded.
This failure also, on a more personal note, throws added light on how security is handled at JKIA. Prior to a flight out of Nairobi last year did the arbitrary demand by a KAA staff at one of Nairobi’s JKIA security checkpoints, that this author’s scarve had to be removed and put through the scanner alongside laptop, shoes and traveling bag raise questions, of course not responded to by KAA at the time.
2 Responses
I have followed your blog for a while now. And I appreciate blogs are personal opinions for the most part. However the undertones on this particular article may be the last straw that has drawn me out to finally comment,just to address one of the many. You seem to question whether crew did an inspection, I can tell you the answer is a guaranteed yes, they most likely did. But remember we arrive at the aircraft minimum 1 hour to departure, most times earlier, the inspection is most likely done well ahead of the departure, and there would still be activity ongoing in and around the aircraft as the crew continue with flight deck preparation, that would mean the stowaway could still get access to the wheel well bays after crew inspection before pushback. And remember the MAIN purpose of the walkaround is to check for technical status of the aircraft.
Thank you for your apparently long overdue response to my articles.
Questions are being asked now and the one you cite, without any ulterior motives, is one which is among those being looked into. What is clear that a major security breach took place and users of both airline and airport deserve a fully investigated response.
Your own comment: ‘the answer is a guaranteed yes, they most likely did’ is a contradiction as ‘guaranteed’ and ‘most likely’ simply do not correspond, exactly the reason I did ask those questions and why others too will.