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Nigeria Airways Flight 250

28 Nov 1983 · 3.3 km from Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria

Fokker F28 Fellowship 2000 · Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error in poor weather

From Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS) to Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria

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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
53 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
72
Survivors
19
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

Fokker F28 Fellowship 2000

Flight
WT250
Aircraft type
Fokker F28
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-ANF
Onboard fatalities
53
Route
From Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS)To Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria

Cause areas

  • Personnel issues › Action/decision
  • Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena

From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.

Approximate · Estimated position: Enugu (city), near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.

From the Wikipedia article

Nigeria Airways Flight 250 was a domestic Nigerian flight from Ikeja to Enugu that crashed at 11:13 a.m. on the morning of November 28, 1983. On approach to Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, the Fokker F28 Fellowship 2000 crashed into a cassava field 3.3 km from the runway. 53 of the 72 people on board the plane were killed, making the crash the fourth-deadliest aviation accident in Nigeria at the time.

Accident

The pilots decided upon a VOR approach to Enugu. The visibility was very poor and below minima required for this approach. The minimum descent altitude of 300 ft was maintained above the local terrain, however, for unknown reasons, the plane began to descend about 3 km from the runway's threshold. The plane impacted the terrain of a cassava field.

The landing gear was torn off the aircraft and the plane slid on its belly for a few hundred feet. The left wing and engine were torn off by trees. The aft pressure bulkhead, aft fuselage, and empennage separated from the aircraft. The front fuselage was severely compressed and the cargo holds were ruptured. A fire erupted at the separated wing and engulfed the remains of the fuselage.

Investigation and cause

Probable cause

The probable cause was "the decision of the flight crew to continue the approach in below-minima weather conditions until the aircraft impacted the ground."

Text from the Wikipedia article “Nigeria Airways Flight 250” (revision 1368641700, 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 250
Article
Nigeria Airways Flight 250
Revision
1368641700 · 2026-08-10 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q123027175
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 250" (page 74932839, revision 1368641700)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
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.