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Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145

Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 (SO1145/OSL1145) was a scheduled Nigerian domestic passenger flight from Nigeria's capital of Abuja (ABV) to Port Harcourt (PHC). At about 14:08 local time (13:08 UTC) on 10 December 2005, Flight 1145 from Abuja crash-landed at Port Harcourt International Airport. The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 with 110 people on board, slammed into the ground and burst into flames. Immediately after the crash, seven survivors were recovered and taken to hospitals, but only two people survived.[2]

Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145
The aircraft involved in the accident in 1997, while still in operation with JAT Airways
Accident
Date10 December 2005 (2005-12-10)
SummaryMissed approach due to pilot error aggravated by microburst-induced windshear
SitePort Harcourt International Airport, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
05°00′52″N 006°57′01″E / 5.01444°N 6.95028°E / 5.01444; 6.95028
Aircraft
Aircraft typeMcDonnell Douglas DC-9-32[1]
Aircraft nameRose of Enugu
OperatorSosoliso Airlines
IATA flight No.SO1145
ICAO flight No.OSL1145
Call signSOSOLISO 1145
Registration5N-BFD
Flight originNnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Nigeria
DestinationPort Harcourt International Airport, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Occupants110
Passengers103
Crew7
Fatalities108
Injuries2
Survivors2
A similar aircraft, a DC 9-30, from Sosoliso Airlines at Enugu Airport
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It was the second air disaster to occur in Nigeria in less than three months, after Bellview Airlines Flight 210, which crashed on 22 October 2005 for reasons unknown, killing all 117 people on board.[3][4][5] It was the company's first and only fatal accident.

Investigation into the crash by Nigeria's Accident Investigation Bureau concluded that the crash was attributed to the pilot's decision to keep descending on the airport even though the aircraft had passed the minimum decision altitude. The pilots decided to go-around while they were in wind shear condition. This decision was also too late as they still had not configured the aircraft for a go-around and their altitude was already too low.

Aircraft

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The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the flight was manufactured in 1972, with 2 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A engines, and the serial number 47562/685.[6] It became registered in Nigeria on 12 June 2003. The aircraft was owned by JAT Airways, and operated by Sosoliso Airlines Ltd. The aircraft certificate was released on 17 March 2005 and would have been due to another check on 27 June 2006. The aircraft was described as airworthy at the time of the accident.[7]

Passengers and crews

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Flight 1145 was carrying 103 passengers and 7 crew members. The majority of those on board were children aged between 12 - 16 years old who were travelling home for Christmas holiday.[8] Among the passengers were about sixty secondary school students from Loyola Jesuit College in the Federal Capital Territory region of Nigeria.[7] At first, Loyola Jesuit College students from Port Harcourt traveled between school and their homes via buses using the roads. Rising crime along roads during the 1990s, however, made parents believe that road travel was too dangerous. In 2001, when Sosoliso Airlines began services between Port Harcourt and Abuja, parents placed their children on the flights.[9]

Also on the flight were two volunteers for Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders, one of whom was an American and the other was a French citizen, en route to work in Port Harcourt,[10][11][12] as well as televangelist Bimbo Odukoya, pastor of the Fountain of Life Church.[13][14][15][12] The National President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Uche Marcus Okoro who was returning from a union meeting, was also on the passenger list.[16]

The captain was Benjamin Adebayo,[7][17][18] a 48-year-old Nigerian with a total flying experience of 10,050 hours with 1,900 of them on the DC-9. He had his last simulator training at Pan Am International Flight Academy in Miami on 7 July 2005. The first officer was Gerald Andan,[7][19][20] a 33-year-old Ghanaian with a total flying experience of 920 hours which 670 hours were on the type. He had his last simulator training in August 2005 with a result of 'satisfying'. The flight was supposed to be his last, after doubting the safety of the airline.[7]

Crash

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All times in this article are Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Flight 1145 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Nigeria's capital Abuja to Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State. The aircraft departed from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at 12:25 p.m with 103 passengers and 7 crew members, with Captain Adebayo (48) as the pilot who was in control of the aircraft and First Officer Andan (33) as his co-pilot. The flight was uneventful until its final approach in Port Harcourt.[7]

About 140 kilometres (90 mi) from the airport, the aircraft contacted controller for initial descent clearance and was cleared by controller to descent to 4,900 metres (16,000 ft). The aircraft continued its descent until 13:00, when the crew asked the controller for the weather condition at the airport. The controller told the crews that there was no precipitation and that there were scattered cumulonimbus clouds in the area. The crew acknowledged the report and continued their descent.[7]

At 11 kilometres (6 nmi) from the airport, on 13:04 p.m, the aircraft had been established on the glide-slope. At this time, the aircraft had entered adverse weather condition with headwind and tailwind. The flight crews then requested clearance to land at Runway 21. The controller then contacted Flight 1145 and advised that there was a possibility of rain in the airport. The controller then cleared the aircraft to land at Runway 21, but warned the pilots that the runway could be slightly wet, indicating that hydroplaning was a possibility. The flight crews then acknowledged this message.[7]

Flight 1145 then descended until it had passed the decision altitude of 307 feet (94 m). As the rain intensified, the visibility deteriorated. The unlit runway further aggravated the situation. Unable to make out the unlit runway through the rain, Captain Adebayo called for a go around (missed approach) at an altitude of about 200 feet (61 m) or approximately 120 feet (37 m) above the ground. This call was made about 100 feet (30 m) below the decision altitude. His decision, however, was too late as Flight 1145 was already too low for a go-around. The "TOO LOW-GEAR" warning then sounded and the flight crews tried to add more thrust. The flight crews had not managed to prepare the aircraft's configuration in a timely manner and the aircraft kept descending.[7]

The DC-9 then slammed onto the grass strip between the runway and the taxiway. It then slid and struck a concrete drainage culvert located near the runway. The collision then disintegrated the aircraft. The tail section was immediately destroyed and the engine was lodged into the drainage. As it broke up, the fuel spilled and the aircraft burst into flames. The fuselage and the cockpit, now in flames, continued to slide for few hundreds metres before it finally came to rest on the taxiway. [21]

Immediate aftermath

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Of the 103 passengers and 7 crew members there were only two survivors, although seven survivors were initially rescued.[22] Many passengers survived the initial impact but died in the resulting fire. Other passengers later died from their injuries. Port Harcourt Airport had one fire truck and no ambulances.[7][23] None of 7 crew members survived the crash.[7] Out of the 60 teenagers from Ignatius Loyola Jesuit College; a boarding school located in Abuja, 59 were killed,[24] with Kechi Okwuchi being the only survivor from her school. Kechi was treated at Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa[25][26] and at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston, Texas, United States.[27] The other survivor was Bunmi Amusan who survived with 40% burns on her body.[28]

Investigation

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Weather

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Weather data was obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency and from satellite imagery that were provided by Boeing. The data suggested that at 13:00 p.m, a sea breeze front, possibly reinforced by an outflow, pushed inland in the vicinity of Port Harcourt. This condition caused a rapidly deteriorating visibility during Flight 1145's approach to the airport. The leading edge of the boundary, in theory, also could have caused an abrupt increase in wind speed and significant changes on the direction of the wind, which would produce wind shear.[7]

According to the AIB, the weather information was not relayed to the flight crews in a correct manner. The controller did not relay the wind speed and the possibility of a thunderstorm in the area. Had the controller relayed the information properly, the crew would have prepared the aircraft according to the said weather condition. The controller should have asked the crews to be vigilant on the prevailing wind condition. However, the controller had only cleared the aircraft to land and to exercise caution on the wet runway.[7]

Further investigation revealed that Sosoliso Airlines didn't include wind shear recognition and recovery into its simulator training program.[7]

Flight recorder analysis

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As the flight recorders were retrieved by investigators, it was revealed that both flight recorders had been damaged by the impact forces and post-impact fire. The recorders were later taken to the United Kingdom for further analysis by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch. [7]

The flight data recorder revealed that during Flight 1145's final approach the aircraft had passed the decision altitude of Port Harcourt Airport. The decision altitude is the exact altitude where pilots need to find the runway by visual reference until a certain point where the pilot decides to make a call for a go-around when visual contact with the runway has not been established. Flight 1145 leveled off at an altitude of 204 feet (62 m), which was below the minimum decision altitude of 307 feet (94 m). The airspeed then decreased to 145 knots and the aircraft kept descending even lower than 204 feet (62 m). A few seconds later, there was an increase of speed to 151 knots, indicating that the flight crews had decided to initiate a go-around. As the aircraft had descended well below 204 feet (62 m), the crew was unable to recover the aircraft as the altitude was too low. The data then ceased functioning when the aircraft speed was at 160 knots.[7]

The cockpit voice recorder revealed that Captain Adebayo had called for a go-around approximately 16 seconds before the crash. As he called for a go-around, the flight crews added thrust and then tried to retract the gear and the flaps. As the flaps had not been completely retracted and the gears were not in its correct position, the "TOO LOW-GEAR" warning sounded.[7]

According to the correct procedures for a missed approach, the flight crews should have set the take-off thrust, retracted the flaps to 15 degree and retracted the landing gear until a positive rate of climb had been established. The flight crews did try to follow the procedure, however the low altitude of Flight 1145, added by the bad weather condition at the time, prevented the flight crews to conduct a proper missed approach procedure. Flight 1145 was flying slightly above its stall speed and the windshear condition caused the airspeed to decrease. As such, the aircraft didn't climb in a timely manner and ultimately crashed onto the ground.[7]

Other factors

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There were several other findings that were included as contributing factors in the crash of Flight 1145.

The presence of a drainage culvert near an operating runway poses serious risks to other aircraft during the landing and take-off phase, particularly to aircraft that accidentally veer off of the runway. In the case of Flight 1145, the DC-9 exploded immediately after it had struck a drainage culvert located about 70 meters to the left of Runway 21. The report implied that there could be more survivors had the DC-9 not impacted the culvert.[7]

Investigators also noted that the runway was only lit at certain conditions i.e at night, on request by pilots or during bad weather in the area. This was due to the unstable power supply from the Nigerian National Grid and the lack of resources and funds to maintain the lighting in the airport.[7]

Conclusion

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The final report was published on July 26, 2006. The Nigerian Accident Investigation Bureau concluded that the probable cause of the crash was due to the crew's decision to continue the approach beyond the Decision Altitude without having the runway in sight. The adverse weather condition was listed as a contributing factor.[7]

The Nigerian AIB recommended that wind shear recognition and recovery should be made compulsory into pilot's initial and recurrent simulator training. This was not applied in a timely manner and resulted in another airliner crash a year later in Abuja which was caused by wind shear.[7]

Aftermath

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The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) mandates that each family of an air crash victim is entitled to only 3 million naira or US$18,157 from the airline. In January 2009 Harold Demuren, the director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), said that the families of the air crash victims would be compensated and that Sosoliso had already paid $2.3 million into an escrow account to compensate the families.[29]

Pope Benedict XVI sent condolences to the families of victims and offered prayers for relief workers at the site of the accident.[24]

In response to the crash, then-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo cut short his visit to Portugal and vowed to overhaul the country's aviation sector and to "plug loopholes" of the aviation safety in Nigeria.[30][31] A crisis meeting was later called and some senior air officials were suspended from their job.[32]

Legacy

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Andy and Ify Ilabor, the parents of crash victims Chuka, Nkem, and Busonma "Buso" Ilabor, started a foundation called the Ilabor Angels to assist orphans and AIDS victims.[33]

Loyola Jesuit College dedicated a Memorial Hall to the deceased students.[34][33] A Concerned Students Club was also created after the crash to discuss and reflect on the issues within Nigeria, and the school founded the Jesuit Memorial College in 2013 and Loyola Academy in 2014 which focus on providing education to lower income families.[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
  2. ^ Michaels, Daniel (1 October 2007). "How Blunders and Neglect Stoked an African Air Tragedy". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2009. Alt URL Archived 6 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine – Available from ProQuest, document ID: 399047247
  3. ^ Polgreen, Lydia (11 December 2005). "Nigeria Plane Crash Kills 103; Most Were Children". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  4. ^ "Over 100 Dead in Nigeria Jet Crash". www.cbsnews.com. 10 December 2005. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  5. ^ "I Was Barred From Public Statements After 2005 Sosoliso Air Crash". Akahi News. 20 September 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  6. ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 5N-BFD Port Harcourt Airport (PHC)". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v "Final report on the accident to Sosoliso Airlines DC 9-32 aircraft registered 5N – BFD at Port Harcourt International Airport on 10th December 2005" (PDF). Nigerian Federal Ministry of Aviation. 20 July 2006. FMA/AIPB/424. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2012.
  8. ^ "Nigeria jet crash leaves 103 dead". BBC News. 11 December 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  9. ^ "60 Angels: Marking 10 Years Since Tragedy Struck the Loyola Jesuit College Community in Nigeria". www.jesuitseast.org. Retrieved 20 September 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  10. ^ "Two MSF colleagues killed in airline crash in Nigeria". Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  11. ^ "Answers sought after Nigeria crash". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Investigation begins into Nigerian plane crash". The Irish Times. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  13. ^ Akinsuyi, Yemi (12 December 2005). "Nigeria: Its an Act of God, Says Pastor Bimbo's Mother". allafrica.com. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  14. ^ @orisuntv (15 September 2016). "BIMBO ODUKOYA & OTHER PLANE CRASH VICTIMS SACRIFICED – FFK". Orisun TV. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  15. ^ "Pastor Bimbo Odukoya (1960 - 2005)". pastor-bimbo-odukoya.memory-of.com. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  16. ^ "Chevron PENGASSAN". Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  17. ^ Fayemi, Kayode (18 December 2005). "'Mummy, what's our future without daddy?'". onlinenigeria.com. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  18. ^ therealchidike (15 June 2012). "2006 Sosoliso Crash: Pilot Couldn't See Runway Because Airport Didn't Have Diesel". Dike Chiedozié's Blog. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  19. ^ "Ghanaian Pilot Dies in Nigerian Air Crash". www.ghanaweb.com. 30 November 2001. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  20. ^ "OAA 90 | RIP – Gerald Yakubu Andan: 1972–2005". Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  21. ^ a b Benigno, Mike (December 2015). "60 Angels: Marking 10 Years Since Tragedy Struck the Loyola Jesuit College Community in Nigeria". www.jesuitseast.org. Retrieved 24 August 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  22. ^ "Nigeria Marks 10 Years Since Plane Crash Of Sosoliso Flight 1145". Sahara Reporters. 10 December 2015. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  23. ^ "Genfile" (PDF).
  24. ^ a b Osodi, George (14 December 2005). "Families ID young victims of Nigerian crash". msnbc.com. AP. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  25. ^ Lindeque, Brent (12 June 2017). "Plane crash survivor who was treated in Johannesburg gets a standing ovation on Americas Got Talent". Good Things Guy. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  26. ^ "Home". Kechi Okwuchi. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  27. ^ "Former patient, Kechi, featured on". www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  28. ^ ""We need safer skies" Sosoliso survivor, Kechi Okwuchi pleads in emotional video". Vanguard. 19 March 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  29. ^ Ehigiator, Kenneth. "Nigeria: ADC Airline Owners Face Arrest." Lagos:AllAfrica.com. 1 January 2009. Retrieved on 10 September 2010.
  30. ^ "Families ID young victims of Nigerian crash". NBC. 12 December 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  31. ^ "Over 100 Dead In Nigeria Jet Crash". CBS. 10 December 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  32. ^ "In pictures: Nigeria jet crash". BBC. 13 December 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  33. ^ a b Africa's Airline Casualties on YouTube[dead link‍] – The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on 17 November 2007.
  34. ^ Loyola Jesuit College Abuja | Gbenga's Notebook
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External image
  Picture of the aircraft while still flying for Serbian Airline JAT – Registration YU-AJH


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