IITA aircraft incident

8 January 2007

IBADAN, Monday, 8 January 2007 – The light aircraft of the International Institute of Tropical Agrticulture (IITA) was involved in an incident on Saturday 6 January 2007 in the late afternoon. The incident happened at low speed following an aborted take off due to the potential risk of striking a large flock of birds who had settled on the runway. The aircraft veered to the side and the nosewheel entered a large hole associated with the runway lighting cable system. The damage resulted from the nosewheel dropping in to the hole. Captain David Sewell was the only person on board and was fortunately not harmed.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the Accident Investigation Board attended Sunday and released the aircraft to IITA for repair having classified it as an incident. This morning the holes are being filled-in following a directive from the NCAA yesterday.