Nigeria Airways

Boeing 737-200

Nigeria Airways flight WT357 departed Yola (YOL) at 07:00 en route to Lagos (LOS). Intermediate stops were planned at Jos (JOS) and Kaduna (KAD). The Boeing 737 landed at Jos at 07:40 and departed fifty minutes later. The flight to Kaduna was uneventful. Kaduna ATC gave the aircraft an inbound clearance with no delay for a locator approach to runway 05. Though, the initial landing clearance was for runway 05, the captain requested to land on runway 23. He was reminded by the controller that the wind was from 090 magnetic, but he still insisted on using the 23 approach. At 08:42, the aircraft commenced its initial descent at 48 miles on the ILS/DME to 4,500 ft. At 08:49 UTC, it was cleared to 3,500 ft at 10 miles out and was later descended to 500 ft. The aircraft turned left from the track 310 to align with runway 23 and the aircraft was still in the turn when the threshold was sighted just 1.5 miles to the left of the aircraft. The first officer asked the captain "Can you make it to land from that position?". The observer in the jump seat also suggested going on the downwind, presumably to re-position the aircraft for landing on runway 05. There was no response at all from the captain and the approach was continued for runway 23. The left turn was very steep and it took the aircraft to the left of the runway centreline and a right correction was applied. The observer shouted "Watch the wing" as the wings could have struck the ground on the final approach. By this time, the aircraft crossed the threshold with the flying pilot still struggling to maintain directional control for runway centreline alignment. The aircraft touched down 7820 feet down the runway, leaving just 2020 ft (615.85 m) of runway length. The captain was reported to have used 1.8 and 1.6 EPR on the reversers. When a runway overrun became inevitable, the captain turned the aircraft to the left with the intention to take advantage of the last rapid exit intersection to avoid the runway end lights. At this juncture, the aircraft entered an uncontrollable skid. The right wing hit the ground, thus rupturing the fuel tanks and a huge fire erupted. The aircraft was destroyed by the fire.

Boeing 707

The aircraft was on a cargo flight from Jeddah (JED) to Kano (KAN). The total cargo uplift was 35 tonnes packed in 13 pallets and some loose bundles of merchandise that were loaded in the lower cargo hold. The departure from Jeddah was delayed for thirteen hours because of problems starting the n°4 engine. The Boeing 707 departed at 13:48 UTC. As the aircraft approached N'Djamena at FL350, about 17:00 UTC, the flight engineer noted a strange smell in the cockpit. The ground engineer and the loadmaster who were sitting in the cargo compartment area of the aircraft confirmed that the smell had persisted for a while around them. It appeared that the area around pallet number 11 was misty. The pallet was sprayed with a fire extinguisher and the smoke evacuation procedure was carried out. This stopped the fumes temporarily. The aircraft was now halfway between N'Djamena and Kano with about 40 minutes flight time to go. At 18:00 the flight was cleared to descend. Then the Master Warning sounded, followed one minute later by a Fire Warning. Smoke entered the cabin. A descent was initiated with a descent rate close to 3,000 feet per minute. Later the pitch trims became ineffective before the aircraft crashed into marshland. Tire ground marks at the scene of the accident indicated that the aircraft must have descended very slowly into the elephant grass and may have somersaulted on contact with the water, then exploded and disintegrated along the wreckage trail. Both loadmasters were killed as well as one crew member. Both other occupants were injured.

Douglas DC-8

A McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61 passenger plane, registered C-GMXQ was destroyed in an accident near Jeddah-King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED), Saudi Arabia. All 261 on board were killed. The DC-8 jetliner was owned by Canadian airline Nationair which operated the plane on behalf of Nigeria Airways to fly hajj pilgrims between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. Nigeria Airways flight 2120 took off from Jeddah's runway 34L at 08:28, bound for Sokoto (SKO), Nigeria. About 15 seconds after brake release an oscillating sound was heard in the cockpit. Within two seconds, the flight engineer said: "What's that?" The first officer replied: "We gotta flat tire, you figure?" Two seconds later, an oscillating sound was again heard. The captain asked the first officer: "You're not leaning on the brakes, eh?" The first officer responded: "No, I 'm not, I got my feet on the bottom of the rudder." By this time, the aircraft had accelerated to about 80 knots. Marks on the runway showed that the No.1 wheel started to break up at about this time. In addition, the left and right flanges of No.2 wheel began to trace on the runway; rubber deposit from No.2 tire continued which appeared to be from a deflated tire between the flanges. At 28 seconds after brake release, a speed of 90 knots was called by the captain and acknowledged by the first officer. The captain called V1 about 45 seconds after brake release. Two seconds later, the first officer noted "sort of a shimmy like if you're riding on one of those ah thingamajigs." The captain called "rotate" 51 seconds after brake release and the airplane lifted off the runway. Witnesses noticed flames in the area of the left main landing gear. The flames disappeared when the undercarriage was retracted. During the next three minutes several indications of system anomalies occurred, which included a pressurization system failure, a gear unsafe light and a loss of hydraulics. The captain requested a level-off at 2000 feet because of the pressurization problem. In his radio call the captain used the callsign "Nationair 2120" instead of "Nigerian 2120" and the controller mistook the transmission to be from a Saudi flight returning to Jeddah and cleared The Jeddah bound aircraft to 3000 feet. The captain of the accident aircraft, however, acknowledged the ATC transmission without a call sign, saying "understand you want us up to 3000 feet." This misunderstanding continued for the next three minutes with ATC assuming that all calls were from the Saudi flight, not from the accident aircraft. About four minutes after brake release the captain called ATC and reported that the aircraft was leveling at 3000 feet. The first officer then interrupted with " ... declaring an emergency. We 're declaring an emergency at this time. We believe we have ah, blown tires." As the aircraft continued on the downwind heading, a flight attendant came into the cockpit and reported "smoke in the back ... real bad." A few moments later, the first officer said "I've got no ailerons." The captain responded: "OK, hang on, I've got it." It was the last record on the CVR, which failed (along with the flight data recorder [FDR]) at 08:33:33. The ATC controller gave a heading to intercept the final approach and thereafter continued to give heading information. Meanwhile, during the downwind and base legs, the fire had consumed the cabin floor above the wheel wells , permitting cabin furnishing to sag into the wheel wells. When the gear was probably extended at 11 miles on the final approach, the first body fell out because fire had burned through the seat harness. Subsequently, with the gear down and a forceful air supply through the open gear doors, rapid destruction of more floor structure permitted the loss of more bodies and seat assemblies. Despite the considerable destruction to the airframe, the aircraft appeared to be controllable. Eight minutes after brake release and 10 miles from the runway, the captain declared an emergency for the third time, saying, "Nigeria 2120 declaring an emergency, we are on fire, we are on fire, we are returning to base immediately." The aircraft came in nose down and crashed 9,433 feet (2,875 meters) short of the runway at 08:38.

Boeing 737-200

Following a normal approach, the aircraft landed on a wet runway and was unable to stop within the remaining distance. It overran, lost its nose gear and came to rest few dozen meters further. All 135 occupants evacuated safely and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Boeing 737-200

The approach to Port Harcourt Airport was completed in heavy rain falls. After touchdown, the airplane encountered difficulties to stop within the remaining distance and overran. While contacting soft ground, the nose and right main gear collapsed and the aircraft came to rest. 36 occupants were injured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Douglas DC-10

The flight originated from Lagos, Nigeria, at 1320LT hours local time as a training flight. The training flight commenced from Lagos with the trainee Captain on the left seat as the Pilot Flying while the Instructor Captain was on the right seat as Pilot-in-Command. The point of intended landing and subsequent trainings was Ilorin Airport. Flight preparation was completed by the crew and ground dispatchers with 60.3 metric tonnes of fuel up-lift giving an estimated endurance of 8 hours. The flight was normal up till the altitude of 3,000 feet when the aircraft was inside the control zone of Ilorin Control Tower which had cleared the aircraft for a touch and go on runway 05. At 1,000 feet agl the aircraft had its landing gears in the down position and landing flaps set at 35°. At 400 feet agl the autopilot was disconnected and later at 80 feet the autothrottles were also disconnected. The aircraft was fully established on the ILS. As the trainee captain was on his very first flight on the aircraft type, the Nigeria Airways DC-10 flight transition syllabus item 9 has it that the sequence of training at this point in time should be '3 engine or single land demonstration-Full stop'. As the aircraft had already requested and cleared for a touch and go and established on ILS, it was clear that item 9 had been skipped and item 10 '3 engine Flight Director ILS approach -Touch and Go' was in progress. The trainee captain crossed the 05 threshold rather high at about 60 feet or more and a long time, interspersed with instructions by the instructor captain, was spent before the aircraft had its main landing gears on the ground at about 2,913 feet (888 m) from the threshold. Runway 05 had a Landing Distance Available if 3,100 meters. It appeared that the trainee captain did not recede the throttles fully back for the touchdown and the Instructor had to assist in doing so. The trainee captain then appeared to be holding the nosewheel off the ground and again the Instructor had to push the control column down. On nosewheel touchdown, the trainee immediately requested for takeoff power. The Instructor went into the aircraft reconfiguration procedure after the landing and was still busy on the required settings when the trainee Pilot raised an alarm as the runway threshold was approaching. The Instructor looked out into the 900m of slight haze visibility, felt that the aircraft would not takeoff with the limited runway available and immediately reached out to deploy the spoilers at the same time stepped on the brakes. Abort takeoff was not announced. At this point in time the engine throttles had already been advanced for takeoff. The aircraft was on heavy braking from about 1,390 feet (424 meters) before runway end as it overran the runway. The aircraft made significant impacts with the ILS antenna bars, electrical switch posts and the approach light support structures of runway 23 all located on the runway 05 clearway before it came to a halt. The location of the accident site was 44 meters to the left of the centreline and 649 meters along the extended centreline. A fire erupted and consumed the fuselage. All nine crew members escaped uninjured.

Fokker F28 Fellowship

On final approach to Enugu Airport, the visibility was below minimums due to thick fog. The crew decided to continue the approach and descended below the MDA and below the glide until the airplane struck the ground in a relative flat attitude. Upon impact, the undercarriage were torn off and the aircraft slid on its belly for few dozen meters before coming to rest in flames about 3,3 km short of runway threshold. 53 people were killed while 19 others were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed.

Fokker F28 Fellowship

While descending to Kano-Mallam Aminu Kano Airport, the crew was instructed to maintain FL65 as a Nigerian Air Force MiG-21 was performing touch-and-go maneuvers at the same airport. After the jet trainer completed its touch-and-go and was taking off, its crew was informed about the approach of the F28 which should land first on runway 05. On short final, both aircraft collided and crashed in flames about 2 km short of runway threshold. Both aircraft were destroyed and all 18 occupants were killed. The exact circumstances and causes of the in-flight collision are unclear.

Fokker F27 Friendship

After landing, the airplane was unable to stop within the remaining distance. It overran and came to a halt few dozen meters further. While all 23 occupants escaped uninjured, the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Fokker F28 Fellowship

After touchdown at Port Harcourt Airport, the airplane was unable to stop within the remaining distance. It overran, lost its undercarriage and came to rest few dozen meters further. There were no casualties but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Fokker F27 Friendship

Apparently following a wrong approach configuration to runway 28, the aircraft was too high on the glide and landed too far down the runway. After touchdown, the airplane was unable to stop within the remaining distance, overran and eventually collided with gravel piles. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and 34 occupants were injured, seven others were unhurt.

Vickers VC-10

Following an uneventful flight from Kano, the crew started the descent to Lagos-Ikeja Airport. The captain was cleared for a straight-in approach but encountered low visibility due to foggy conditions. On final, the crew failed to realize his altitude was insufficient when the airplane struck trees and crashed 13 km short of runway 19. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all 87 occupants have been killed.