The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau has revealed conflicting accounts from the three pilots aboard the Bombardier Challenger 601-3A aircraft that mistakenly landed on a road under construction near Asaba Airport, Delta State.
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The disclosure was contained in the Bureau’s preliminary report on the June 10, 2026 serious incident involving the aircraft operated by VMO Aero.
According to the report released on Friday, the conflicting accounts centred on the aircraft’s second and final approach into Asaba Airport.
The Pilot in Command and the Second in Command told investigators that the aircraft remained correctly established on the RNAV Runway 11 approach after an earlier missed approach caused by loss of visual reference to the runway in cloud.
They said the observer pilot identified the paved surface ahead as the runway, and that the aircraft landed on what they believed was a runway extension before eventually stopping near construction equipment.
However, the observer pilot gave a different account.
He told investigators that the aircraft remained in cloud until late in the approach and that repeated Ground Proximity Warning System alerts of “TERRAIN, TERRAIN, PULL UP” sounded before the landing.
According to the observer pilot, he instructed the captain to discontinue the approach and climb immediately after sighting a telecommunications mast.
The NSIB said the operational status and authority of the observer pilot during the flight remain under investigation.
The report also disclosed that there were disagreements among the crew before departure from Lagos, particularly over the aircraft’s Flight Management System programming and the planned cruising level.
The observer pilot said he raised concerns about the FMS but was allegedly told by the Pilot in Command not to interfere because he was not rated on the Challenger aircraft type.
The Pilot in Command and Second in Command acknowledged that there were FMS discrepancies but said the issues were corrected before take-off.
The observer pilot also disputed the planned cruising level, a disagreement which the cabin crew reportedly escalated to company management before the flight departed Lagos.
Investigators further found that the Pilot in Command had joined the operator about 10 days before the incident and that the flight was his first into Asaba Airport.
The report stated that after the wrong-road landing, the aircraft later departed from the construction road and returned to Lagos, where damage to the left nose-wheel assembly was identified.
The Bureau also noted conflicting accounts regarding the emergency response after the incident.
It further found that the Asaba Tower voice recording system was unserviceable at the time of the occurrence, raising concerns about the reliability of air traffic communication records during serious incidents.
The NSIB stressed that the report is preliminary and does not determine the cause of the incident.
Following the aircraft’s return to Lagos, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority grounded it, saying it had flown back from the occurrence site without obtaining the required regulatory approval.
The NCAA said the action followed its preliminary findings and formed part of ongoing investigations into possible compliance breaches surrounding the flight operation.
As part of its immediate safety recommendations, the NSIB urged the NCAA, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to establish harmonised national procedures for managing aircraft involved in accidents and serious incidents.
The Bureau also called on FAAN to strengthen aerodrome emergency response procedures and urged NAMA to improve the reliability and redundancy of air traffic services voice recording systems.
The NSIB said the recommendations were issued to address safety gaps identified during the preliminary investigation while the full inquiry continues.
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