Interim Statement on the Serious Incident involving Boeing 737-500 aircraft owned and operated by Air Peace Limited with nationality and registration marks 5N-BUJ which occurred Enroute Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria on 5th November, 2019
| AIB REPORT NO: | AIRPEACE/2019/11/05/INTR/04 |
| REPORT FORMAT: | INTERIM STATEMENT |
| PUBLISHED: | 5TH NOVEMBER, 2023 |
On 5th November 2019, at about 07:35 h, a Boeing 737-500 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BUJ departed Lagos for Owerri with 84 persons on board and six (6) crew members, as APK7004. The Co-pilot was the Pilot Flying (PF) and the Pilot was the Pilot Monitoring (PM). The flight operated on an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight plan.
At 07:40:16 h, the aircraft was in contact with the Lagos Area Control centre (ACC) which cleared it to climb to FL310 and proceed direct to ARAGU. The Co-pilot reported, “at about 23,000 ft, there was a loud bang and the automation went off and the airplane veered a little to the right. The second bang came a few seconds after the first and we quickly glanced at the primary engine instrument panel and noticed that N2 indication was zero, N1 was also rapidly decreasing and was at about 30% while we were climbing”. The flight crew identified the occurrence as ‘severe engine damage’ and in response carried out memory items before consulting the Quick Reference Handbook (QRH).
At 07:50:33 h the crew responded as follows: “DESCENDING FL50 WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY WE CAN NOT DO A VOR APPROACH WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY WE LOST AN ENGINE, WE CAN’T DO A VOR APPROACH”. Approach Control cleared the aircraft to fly direct to Lagos and further cleared for approach by descending to 2,200 ft QNH before being transferred to the Control Tower.
At 08:06:47 h, the aircraft landed safely on runway 18R. It was escorted by awaiting emergency vehicles as it taxied on its own power to the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) apron where it parked and passengers were disembarked with no injury.
The accident occurred in daylight.
The draft final report is being compiled. It will subsequently be sent to stakeholders for their comments inline with the requirements of section 6.3 of international Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
