Teenager flies Arik Air from Benin to Lagos hiding in tyre hole

A teenager named Daniel Ikehina
unbelievably beat airline and airport
security at the Benin airport today
Saturday August 24th and sneaked into
the tyre compartment of a Lagos-bound
Arik flight. The boy flew safely with the
aircraft which left Benin around 9am
today and landed at Murtala
Muhammed airport, hidden throughout
in the undercarriage. He was
immediately arrested by airport security
after passengers saw him emerging
from the aircraft tyre hole.

Arik spokesman Banji Ola explains what
happened:
The management of Arik Air has
expressed shock over the incident
wondering how the teenager beat
the Aviation Security personnel at
the Benin Airport to get to the
runway.

The pilot of Arik Air flight W3 544,
departing Benin Airport for Lagos
at 9.00am today 24th August,
2013 reported to the control tower
the presence of a strange boy in
the bush about 200 – 300 meters
at the end of runway 23.

The control tower told the Captain
that they were sending security
men to the place to arrest the
boy.
As the captain was making his
final turn, preparatory for take-
off, a cabin crew called his
attention to the information by
some of the passengers that they
saw a boy running towards the
airplane.

The First Officer confirmed that
they had observed it earlier and
alerted the control tower which
responded that they have sent the
patrol team to arrest the boy.  The
Captain again reported to the
control tower and was informed
that the situation was under
control and that he had been
cleared for take-off.

On arrival at the domestic wing of
MMA, Lagos, a teenage boy, who
apparently had sneaked into the
aircraft main wheel well jumped
out and was arrested by Arik
personnel and handed over to
FAAN security.
Meanwhile the Federal Airport Authority
of Nigeria (FAAN) blamed Arik Air for
the incident.
FAAN said in a statement:
"Arik Air acted with impunity by
not stopping the aircraft to check
when the crew and ground
personnel’s attention was drawn
to an abnormality on the tarmac.
This is arrant display of impunity.
The aircraft should not have
taxied further, but return to the
apron until a proper check is
carried out on all parts of the
aircraft. FAAN will not tolerate
such impunity henceforth from
Arik or any airline. Any violation
would be met with applicable
sanctions.

See photo