‘Lagos-US UAL flight lost altitude 2-and-half hours after departure’

Fresh facts emerged yesterday over last week’s aircraft incident involving a United Airlines flight heading to Washington Dulles International Airport. The aircraft, with 256 passengers and 11 crew members, had on January 24, 2025, made an air return to the Murtala Muhammed Airport with some passengers injured. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), on […]

Fresh facts emerged yesterday over last week’s aircraft incident involving a United Airlines flight heading to Washington Dulles International Airport.

The aircraft, with 256 passengers and 11 crew members, had on January 24, 2025, made an air return to the Murtala Muhammed Airport with some passengers injured.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), on Wednesday, announced that it has started an investigation into Flight 613 which left Lagos and experienced an emergency landing that led to injuries of passengers and cabin crew.

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) while providing clarification on the incident, yesterday, explained that the incident, which led to the aircraft making an air return, did not occur within Nigerian airspace.

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The aircraft, it stated, experienced a sudden loss of altitude while over Côte d’Ivoire’s airspace approximately 2 hours and 32 minutes after departure.

“Despite having the option to land in Bamako or Abidjan, the pilot, based on his prerogative and assessment of the situation, decided to return to Nigeria, being the origin of the flight and where he probably considered safer for him to make a landing rather than Bamako or Cote d’Ivoire where he experienced the loss of altitude,” NAMA’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Abdullahi Musa, said.

He said the flight fulfilled all departure protocols in accordance with international aviation standards.

He said upon contact with the flight, ATC activated medical emergency services as requested by the pilot and also as required by laid down industry procedures.

According to Reuters, aviation officials in Ivory Coast had delegated the investigation to the NTSB, which would issue a preliminary report within 30 days.

Meanwhile, a training aircraft belonging to the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) on Wednesday skidded off the runway after landing at the NCAT airstrip.

A source close to the college told our correspondent that there was no substantial damage to the aircraft and the student pilot was doing fine.

Our correspondent also learnt that the student pilot was immediately hospitalised, while the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) and the Nigeria Civil Aviation (NCAA) had been notified of the incident.

Mall. Balarabe Muhammed, a spokesman for the institution, while talking with the Daily Trust, said it was just a minor incident and not an accident.