Accident Beechcraft 1900D 5N-JAH,

ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 321756

Date:	Saturday 15 March 2008
Time:	09:20
Type:	Beechcraft 1900D
Owner/operator:	Wings Aviation
Registration:	5N-JAH
MSN:	UE-322
Year of manufacture:	1998
Total airframe hrs:	5578 hours
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67D
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	near Bushi Village, Obanliku - Nigeria
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:	Lagos-Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS/DNMM)
Destination airport:	Bebi Airstrip (DNBB)
Investigating agency:	AIB Nigeria
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The Beech 1900D airplane took off from Lagos at 07.36 en route to Obudu. It was expected to arrive at Bebi Airstrip at approximately 09:21. The aircraft contacted Enugu ATC at 08:56 while descending to FL110. The crew were cleared to descend further down to 5000 feet. It did not arrive at Bebi Airstrip and was declared missing.
On August 30, 2008, hunters found the wreckage in thick rain forest in Obanliku local government area.
Investigation revealed that the Enugu tower controller issued descent instructions to 5, 000 feet AMSL (FL50) outside its control airspace not considering that the aircraft was not flying the filed flight plan route and the minimum safe altitude (MSA) of the area reported by Jeppesen charts as 11,200 feet.

Causal Factor:
I. The flight crew conducted an approach into a VFR airfield in an instrument meteorological condition and did not maintain terrain clearance and minimum safe altitude which led to Controlled Flight Into Terrain.
II. The crew did not respond promptly to GPWS warning.

Contributory Factors
1. The flight crew was not familiar with the route in a situation of low clouds, poor visibility and mountainous terrain.
2. The Area Controllers did not detect the estimate as passed by the pilot for positions not in the filed flight plan (LIPAR and LUNDO) and omitting ENUGU.
3. The erroneous co-location of Bebi airstrip and Obudu on the NAMA Chart confused the crew.

Accident investigation:


Investigating agency:	AIB Nigeria
Report number:	WINGS/2008/03/15/F
Status:	Investigation completed
Duration:	7 years and 2 months
Download report:	Final report

Sources:

SKYbrary
Obudu-bound plane missing (Daily Trust, 16-3-2008)
Search for missing airplane moves to Cameroon, 4 days after (Daily Sun, 19-3-2008)
How 'missing' plane was flown out of Nigeria - The Obasanjo connection (Nigerian Tribune, 28-4-2008)

Location

Images:

photo (c) Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria; near Bushi Village, Obanliku; September 2008