The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has started looking into a serious incident involving a FlyBird HS 125 plane, which has the registration number 5NKAL. This investigation was made public by Mrs. Bimbo Oladeji, who is the Director of Public Affairs and Family Assistance at NSIB, in a statement released on Sunday.
On December 6, 2024, the plane was on a flight from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria, to Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana, when it ran into some technical problems. Reports indicate that during the flight, the aircraft lost power to two of its engines and the pilot decided to turn back to Abuja for safety.
According to early information the NSIB has gathered, the plane, which had four people on board, was ascending to a higher altitude when the crew noticed an issue with one of the engines. Specifically, they were climbing from an altitude of 24,000 feet and were supposed to reach 28,000 feet when they reported a problem with engine number 2.
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At around 17:54 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), while the plane was about 25 nautical miles southwest of a navigation reference point, the flight crew asked for permission to divert back to Abuja because of the engine trouble. The investigation has shown that the plane completely lost engine number 2 when it was flying at an altitude of 23,000 feet.
As the plane got closer to Abuja Airport, flying at around 5,000 feet, the pilots declared an emergency situation by saying “Mayday” because they lost power to engine number 1 as well. Fortunately, despite these serious issues, the crew was able to land the plane safely at approximately 18:16 UTC.
In response to this event, the NSIB has announced that they are launching a thorough investigation. Their investigation team is working to collect evidence, interview the involved individuals, and check the aircraft’s flight history as well as its maintenance records. The goal of this investigation is to find out what exactly went wrong during the flight, to help prevent similar incidents from happening in the future, and to improve the safety of aviation overall. The NSIB has promised to provide more updates as they continue to gather information.
