Plane gets stuck in runway pothole

~~Adz:Right~~ROSEAU, Dominica-THE Dominica Air and Sea Ports Authority (DASPA) has stated that it will do “everything in its power” to find the cause of a Tuesday, October 21 accident at the Melville Hall Airstrip which left three persons with minor lacerations.

According to reports of the accident, an aircraft preparing to depart the airstrip became stuck in a pothole as it taxied toward its takeoff mark.

At that point the pilot of the aircraft increased the throttle of the craft to dislodge the trapped wheel, but was unable to gain traction. A DASPA official reported that the increase of torque on the wheel was what eventually led to passenger injuries.

“They had to increase the thrust on the engines so that they could get the tires out of the ditch… With the thrust, the glass within the departure lounge area broke,” he said. A few persons in the lounge received cuts from flying glass.

“Three persons were attended to by the Fire and Ambulance personnel and taken to Marigot health centre or hospital and they did make it back to the airport in time to make their flight out of Dominica,” the General Manager of DASPA, Benoit Bardouille, told reporters.

He added that investigations into the incident are ongoing and DASPA would be pursuing contractors to provide adequate repairs to the tarmac and prevent any future incidents of this type from happening.