Nigeria Airways Flight 925
Vickers VC10 · Undetermined; probable CFIT due to pilot error
From London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 87 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 87
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Vickers VC10
- Flight
- WT925
- Aircraft type
- Vickers VC10
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- 5N-ABD
- Operator
- Nigeria Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- 87
- Route
- From London Heathrow Airport (LHR)To Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Physical
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
On 20 November 1969, Nigeria Airways Flight 925, a Vickers VC10 aircraft, crashed while on approach to Lagos International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria killing all 87 people on board.
Flight
Nigeria Airways Flight 925 was en route from London to Lagos with intermediate stops in Rome and Kano. It was piloted by captain Valentine Moore, 56; first officer John Wallis, 30; flight engineer George Albert Baker, 50; and navigator Basil Payton, 49. With its undercarriage down and its flaps partially extended, the VC10 struck trees 13 km short of runway 19 at Lagos. The aircraft crashed into the ground in an area of thick forest and exploded.
All 76 passengers and 11 crew on board were killed. Flight 925 was the first ever fatal crash involving the Vickers VC10 as well as the deadliest accident or incident involving the type.
Investigation and cause
Cause
Immediately after the accident, three automatic weapons were found in the wreckage. To counter a rumour that a fight between a prisoner and two guards caused the crash, a ballistics expert was consulted. It was learned that none of the weapons had been recently fired.
The cause of the crash was not determined with certainty. The flight recorder was not working at the time of the crash. It was determined to be most probably due to the flight crew being unaware of the aircraft's actual altitude during the final approach and allowing the aircraft to come below safe height when not in visual contact with the ground. Fatigue may have also been a contributing factor.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Nigeria Airways Flight 925” (revision 1368762241, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Nigeria Airways Flight 925
- Article
- Nigeria Airways Flight 925
- Revision
- 1368762241 · 2026-08-10 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q16999014
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Nigeria Airways Flight 925" (page 35251310, revision 1368762241)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17)
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.