NSIB Probe: Private Jet Aborted First Landing Before Touching Down on Road Near Asaba Airport

By RReporter

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian aviation investigators said Friday that a private jet that mistakenly landed on a road under construction near Asaba Airport last month had aborted its first landing attempt before making a second approach that ended on the wrong surface.

The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), in a preliminary report on the June 10 incident, said the Bombardier Challenger 601-3A, operated by VMO Aero Limited, was flying from Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos to Asaba Airport under Instrument Flight Rules when the incident occurred.

Investigators said the flight crew discontinued their initial approach, repositioned the aircraft and made a second approach to Runway 11, believing they were correctly aligned with the airport’s published RNAV approach procedure.

“The flight crew reported that the aircraft’s navigation indications displayed the aircraft as established on the published RNAV Runway 11 approach,” the report said.

Despite those indications, the aircraft landed on a paved road under construction near the airport instead of the runway.

The NSIB said seven people were aboard the aircraft, including four crew members and three passengers. No injuries were reported.

After stopping, the aircraft was shut down and inspected before the passengers disembarked safely. It later departed the roadway and returned to Lagos without further reported operational problems, although a post-flight inspection found damage to the left nose-wheel assembly, according to the report.

The bureau said its preliminary findings were based on interviews with the flight crew and witnesses, air traffic control records, operational documents, an examination of the aircraft and data recovered from the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.

“The recorders were retrieved and downloaded at the Bureau’s Transport Safety Laboratory in Abuja. Technical examinations and further analysis remain ongoing,” the report said.

The findings follow comments by Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, who said there was no evidence of a mechanical failure.

Speaking on the TVC program Politics Tonight weeks after the incident, Keyamo said air traffic controllers cleared the aircraft to land before losing visual contact with it. The pilots later reported that they had landed on what they believed was a runway but was actually a nearby road under construction.

Keyamo said the aircraft was able to take off again after dropping off its passengers and return to Lagos, which he cited as evidence that it had not suffered a mechanical fault.

He added that the Department of State Services and other security agencies were investigating the incident as a national security matter.

The NSIB said the investigation remains ongoing and emphasized that its preliminary report presents only the facts established so far and does not assign blame or determine the probable cause of the incident.