Keyamo explains Asaba aircraft landing error, says pilots mistook road for runway

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has said the private plane that landed on a construction road near Asaba Airport last month did not have any mechanical problems. The pilots mistakenly landed on the wrong surface after confusing a nearby road for the airport’s runway.

Mr Keyamo shared this information on Wednesday during a TVC interview. He mentioned that the incident has gone beyond just aviation safety and is now being looked into as a matter of national security.

He explained that the aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger CL-601 with registration number N989BC, had been cleared by the control tower to land at Asaba Airport before communication was lost. “The tower in Asaba cleared them to land. After about two minutes, the tower called and said, ‘Where is your location? I can’t see you again. I can’t see you on the tarmac,’” Mr Keyamo said.

He went on to explain that controllers could not find the aircraft because it had landed on a construction road instead of the airport runway. “They said they had landed, so the tower asked, ‘Landed where?’ They said they landed on a roadway that they saw. It happened that it was a construction site very close to the airport. They saw a beautiful road there that looked like a runway and landed there,” he added.

The minister also mentioned that the aircraft later left the location for Lagos after dropping off its passengers. “There was no mechanical failure, and that was why they could take off again,” he noted.

Mr Keyamo stated that the details surrounding the incident have drawn the attention of security agencies. He said the issue is now more than just an aviation matter. “Those facts are before the Department of State Services (DSS). It has gone beyond aviation; it is now a security concern. Security agencies are looking into it, and there are reports they will first send to Mr President because it is a matter of national security,” he explained.

The minister did not reveal more about the security investigation.

Earlier investigations

PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier that the incident happened on 10 June. This caused the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ground the aircraft and suspend the operator, VMO Aero Limited’s Permit for Non-Commercial Flight (PNCF).

The regulator also put the flight crew under review after stating that the aircraft later left the scene for Lagos without obtaining the necessary clearance. This was described as a breach of aviation rules. The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) then sent investigators to the site and recovered the aircraft’s Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) to find out what happened during the flight.

VMO Aero later said that the crew had stopped what they called an unstable approach before the aircraft landed on a road running parallel to the airport’s runway. The company confirmed that no injuries or damage occurred and stated that it was fully cooperating with investigators.