The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has revealed that the private jet involved in the June 10 incident near Asaba Airport mistakenly landed on a road under construction after the flight crew misidentified it as the airport runway.
The disclosure was contained in the bureau’s preliminary investigation report released on Friday into the incident involving a Bombardier Challenger 601-3A aircraft, with registration number N989BC, operated by VMO Aero Limited.
According to the report, the aircraft was flying from Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, to Asaba Airport under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) when the crew aborted their initial landing approach before attempting a second approach to Runway 11 using the published Required Navigation Performance (RNAV) procedure.
The NSIB said the pilots believed the aircraft was correctly aligned with the runway based on the navigation information displayed in the cockpit.
However, the aircraft touched down on a nearby paved road that was under construction instead of the airport runway.
There were seven people on board the aircraft, including four crew members and three passengers. No injuries were recorded.
The bureau said the aircraft was shut down immediately after landing and inspected before the passengers disembarked safely. It later departed from the construction road and returned to Lagos without further operational difficulties.
A post-flight inspection, however, revealed damage to the aircraft’s left nose-wheel assembly.
According to the NSIB, investigators examined the aircraft, interviewed the crew and witnesses, reviewed air traffic control records and analysed data retrieved from the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder at its Transport Safety Laboratory in Abuja.
The bureau noted that technical examinations and further analysis are ongoing to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The findings support an earlier explanation by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, who dismissed reports that mechanical failure caused the incident.
Keyamo had stated that the aircraft was cleared to land at Asaba Airport before controllers lost visual contact with it. The pilots later informed the control tower that they had landed safely, only for it to emerge that they had mistaken the nearby construction road for the runway.
The minister also described the incident as having national security implications, noting that security agencies were involved in the investigation.
The NSIB stressed that the report is preliminary and intended only to present facts established so far, adding that investigations are continuing and no final conclusions have been reached.
