Why more students make emergency landings

Jimmy Wanjala info@airspacenews.co.ke Could it be attributed to poor maintenance or poor planning? Two trainer aircraft have successful been forced to land because of technical issues in the past few weeks. The first one happened on August 13. This was after a trainer aircraft owned by Flitestar Academy, based at Wilson Airport, took off with students from Naishi Airstrip at the Nakuru National Park, heading towards Mara North. The new school is run by young pilots. The student reported a loss of power and executed a near-perfect forced landing in Njoro. The aircraft is not owned by the institution but by Capt Alex Ng'ang'a, who had leased it to the training school. Naishi village is in Njoro Sub County. The pilots and passengers walked away with minor injuries and a story to tell. Twenty-seven-year-old Joshua Kwam was the pilot. Also on the plane were Ximena Rubio Fiueeoa from Peru and Florent Cahhea from France. On September 1 in Nyeri County, another aircraft force-landed in Naro Moru. The instructor and student took off from Nanyuki on the Cessna 172, 5Y-CDX owned by Mt Kenya Flying School based in Nanyuki. The instructor was a veteran pilot in his 60s, Cap Maina Chege and a student - Zawadi Chididrere. After taking off, a possible engine failure forced them back to the ground. The two escaped unharmed with a fairly damaged aircraft. Both aircraft took off from a high sealing area. Nanyuki is 6200ft above sea level, the same as Naishi Airstrip. The official accident report from the Transport Ministry's Air Crash Investigation Department is expected to shed more light on the two incidents.