Created Thursday, Jun 1st 2023 16:46Z, last updated Tuesday, Feb 6th 2024 17:57Z
A United Nigeria Embraer ERJ-145, registration 5N-BWW performing a flight from Abukaliki to Lagos (Nigeria) with 50 people on board, landed on Lagos' runway 18L at about 15:00L (14:00Z) but veered right off the runway and came to a stop on soft ground with the nose gear collapsed. There were no injuries.
The airline reported the aircraft "was forced to terminate its movement to the apron off the runway".
Passengers reported the aircraft was rolling out Wednesday afternoon when about halfway through the rollout the aircraft began to shake due to tyre detachment and went off the runway.
On Feb 6th 2024 Nigeria's NSIB released their preliminary report stating the aircraft was substantially damaged and summarizing the sequence of events:
On board the aircraft were 50 persons inclusive of 2 flight crew and 2 cabin crew with fuel endurance of 2 hours 29 minutes. The Pilot (41, ATPL, 7,000 hours total, 450 hours on type) was the Pilot Flying (PF) while the Copilot (48, CPL, 3,330 hours total, 1,164 hours on type) was the Pilot Monitoring (PM).
At about 15:00h, 5N-BWW was airborne Ebonyi airport en route DNMM, Lagos.
At 16:01:16 h, NUA0563 contacted Lagos Approach and reported 6 miles to runway 18L. Tower cleared the aircraft to continue approach and to confirm call sign, which was confirmed by the crew. NUA0563 was further cleared to continue approach and advised of traffic on runway 18L; an ATR-76 on take-off roll.
At 16:01:53 h, the ATR-76 was cleared for take-off 18L, to maintain runway heading and contact Approach on 124.7.
At 16:02:39 h, Tower cleared NUA0563 to land runway 18L, surface wind of 220/10 kt. According to ATC, “weather was good at the time, no rainfall, no precipitation of any sort” and NUA0563 acknowledged in the affirmative.
At 16:04 h, NUA0563 landed on runway 18L. During the landing roll, Tower observed the aircraft veered off to the right of the runway centreline onto the grass verge between Link 3 and Link 4, coming to a stop on the grass verge parallel to the runway between Link 4 and Link 5.
At 16:04:28 h, NUA0563 called out “MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY”.
At 16:05:03 h, Tower activated the CRASH ALARM. The Aerodrome Rescue and Fire Fighting Services (ARFFS) moved to the site immediately after the crash alarm bell was activated. The runway was then closed to traffic.
At 16:05:42 h, Tower raised MMF02 on the radio to confirm if the team was on ground, which was in the affirmative.
At 16:11:59 h, all passengers disembarked normally without injury.
The incident occurred in daylight Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC).
The NSIB described the runway excursion:
During landing roll, the aircraft veered to the right of runway 18L centreline for a distance of about 936 m from the runway threshold to the runway shoulder and continued onto the grass verge. It further moved on the grass verge, crossed a drainage channel onto the paved way at Link B3, a distance of about 1,760 m and continued onto the grass verge on the other side of the link. The aircraft then crossed another drainage channel and having travelled a total distance of about 1,860 m from the runway threshold, came to a stop. In the process, the aircraft nose landing gear assembly collapsed.
The NSIB released an "Immediate Safety Recommendation" to the operator:
United Nigeria Airlines should ensure compliance with Embraer Service Bulletin (SB) 145-32-0099 (current revision 03, dated April 8, 2005). The SB recommended upgrading the nosewheel steering hydraulic manifold, which required inspecting specific dimensions that were considered critical for the proper operation of the O-ring seals within the EHSV to ensure that they were within tolerance limits.
