Bellview Airlines Flight 210

Bellview Airlines Flight 210 was a scheduled Nigerian domestic passenger flight of a Boeing 737-200 airliner from Lagos to Abuja, operated by Lagos-based Bellview Airlines. On 22 October 2005, the aircraft nose-dived and crashed at high speed a few minutes after takeoff, killing all 117 people on board.

The investigation of the crash was hampered by the lack of physical evidence on the crash site, which was caused by the aircraft's high speed during impact and by looting afterward. The flight recorders were not recovered, and forensic analysis of the pilots could not be conducted. As a result, the investigation was not able to conclude the cause of the crash.

The crash of Flight 210 was followed by the crashes of Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 in 2005 and ADC Airlines Flight 053 in 2006. In response, then-president Olusegun Obasanjo vowed to overhaul the aviation sector.

Accident

Flight 210 was the final leg of a one-day round trip from Abuja to Abidjan with intermediate stops in Lagos and Accra. The flight was uneventful until the fifth leg. While in Accra, the crews had a discussion on the low pressure reading of the brake accumulator system. The reading, approximately 650 psi, was significantly lower than its normal value of 1000 psi. The flight was continued and the reading was logged by crews.

The issue with the brake accumulator system was then discussed by engineer and the maintenance crews. They tried to troubleshoot the system by verifying the pressure reading with another Bellview Airlines Boeing 737. It was later discovered that the faulty reading had originated from a faulty brake accumulator. This was not fixed as the maintenance engineers decided that the aircraft was still within its safe operation limits, and thus the Boeing 737 was allowed to fly from Lagos to Abuja.

On the flight to Abuja, the aircraft was carrying 111 passengers and six crew members, consisting of two flight crews, one engineer and three flight attendants with a destination of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in the nation's capital of Abuja. The flight crews were Captain Imasuen Lambert (49), First Officer Eshun Ernest (42) and Flight Engineer Steve Sani (57).

Flight crews requested start-up clearance at 7:17 p.m. The aircraft then taxied to Runway 18L, and the controller issued the route clearance for Flight 210, with an altitude of 25,000 ft and right turn-out on course. The flight crews requested a left turn-out, and their request was granted. The wind was blowing at 7 kn from 270 degrees. The controller then cleared Flight 210 for takeoff. The flight crews asked for another change on the departure, changing it back to a right turn-out on course. The controller granted the request.

Flight 210 took off from Lagos at 7:30 p.m. The controller then instructed the crews to contact Lagos Approach Control. According to the controller, the flight sounded and appeared normal. The pilot made initial contact with Lagos Approach Control and at 07:32 p.m had replied to the controller's instruction. This was the last known transmission from the flight. The controller tried to regain contact with Flight 210 but failed. As a result, the flight was declared missing.

The Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was then notified for search and rescue operation. Helicopters were deployed to the site where contact with Flight 210 was last made. Search and rescue personnel were not able to pick up signals from the aircraft's Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT). Conflicting reports then began to emerge, with the aircraft's wreckage reportedly being found by a police helicopter in Oyo State. A spokesman of Oyo State, Abilola Oyoko, initially claimed that more than half of those on board had survived the crash. This statement was later retracted as search and rescue personnel located the wreckage in a village in Ogun State, about 50 km from Lagos.

The impact left a 9 m crater and the aircraft was completely destroyed. No major parts of the aircraft were left intact. All 117 passengers and crew on board were killed.

Flight crews

Records obtained by Associated Press revealed that Captain Lambert had gone back to work as a pilot just 9 months after being shot in the head in a robbery attempt. He had been hired by Bellview Airlines after he had been working at a dairy for about 14 years. There was also an unverified report that he had been suspended for 2 weeks from the airline for refusing to fly an airplane that was unsafe.

AIB noted that there was a possibility for fatigue and stress to being included as the cause of the crash as examination on the Captain's logbook revealed that he had been burdened by massive workload. Captain Lambert's cumulative flight hours for the past 12 months was 1,864 hours, a gross violation of the maximum 1,000 flight hours. This was also the case with First Officer Ernest as he had flown for a total of 118 hours within a period of 19 days. The Nigerian air regulations stipulates that the maximum flight hours is 100 hours in 30 consecutive days. The investigation also revealed that the pilots' manual included blank pages instead of key safety information.

Considering the possibilities that Captain Lambert had been fatigued or even incapacitated due to his prior head injury, the AIB decided to investigate the issues further. However, it was later discovered that a pathological examination on the Captain could not be conducted due to the severity of the crash. The absence of both flight recorders also made it impossible for the investigators to examine on the possibility of pilot incapacitation.

Records retrieved by AIB revealed that the crew training was not adequate enough for Captain Lambert to fly the Boeing 737 as he had only accumulated a total of 47 hours of line training. This might have been adequate if the captain was an active pilot. As he had been inactive for more than 10 years, he required several other training including full ground school, more line training, and flight simulator. He had been allowed to fly a Boeing 737 as a Captain as he had met the required criteria, in which he should have flown for about 3,500 hours in the Boeing 737. AIB stated that he actually had not acquired the said flight hours.

The crash caused the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to criticise the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) as they failed to enforce safety regulations and oversight.