Asaba Incident: Aircraft’s Black Box Data Overwritten After Crew Flew Back to Lagos - NSIB

Critical data from the flight recorder of a private jet that made an emergency landing on a road near Asaba Airport has been overwritten, according to the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).

“

The rule allows them to have a 26-hour electric recorder but we discovered that it only recorded for about two hours of low quality.

NSIB Director-General Alex Badeh revealed on Friday during a virtual media briefing that the data was lost because the aircraft was flown back to Lagos before investigators could take custody of it. This development significantly complicates the process of reconstructing the events leading to the unusual landing.

The incident involved a U.S.-registered Bombardier Challenger 601-3A, operated by VMO Aero Limited. The aircraft was en route from Lagos to Asaba on June 10 when it landed on a paved road near Asaba Airport instead of the runway. The flight carried four crew members and three passengers, none of whom were injured.

“

because the aircraft had flown from Lagos to Asaba and then back to Lagos, the recorder had overwritten information from the period investigators were most interested in.

Badeh explained that the flight recorder was expected to have a longer recording capacity but only yielded about two hours of low-quality data. Because the aircraft flew from Lagos to Asaba and then returned to Lagos, the recorder overwrote crucial information from the period investigators were most interested in. This leaves investigators with limited flight data concerning the aircraft's movement around the time of the wrong-surface landing.

“

The crew believed it was correctly aligned with the published Required Navigation Performance procedure before landing on a paved road under construction near the airport instead of the runway.

Despite the data loss, Badeh assured that the investigation would continue using other methods. Preliminary findings suggest the crew discontinued their initial approach to Runway 11 and attempted a second approach. They believed they were correctly aligned with the Required Navigation Performance procedure before landing on a paved road under construction near the airport. Following the incident, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) grounded the aircraft and suspended VMO Aero Limited’s Permit for Non-Commercial Flight. The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, called the event a serious security breach, noting the aircraft had been cleared to land on the runway but landed outside the secured airport environment.

“

the aircraft had been cleared by air traffic control to land on the runway but instead landed on a concrete road outside the secured airport environment.