NSIB: Private jet crew overwrote black box data after road landing

The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has revealed that critical flight data from a private jet was overwritten following an unusual landing in Delta State. The incident involved a US-registered Bombardier Challenger 601-3A, operated by VMO Aero Limited, which landed on a paved road near Asaba Airport on June 10 instead of the designated runway.

NSIB Director-General Alex Badeh stated that the crew flew the aircraft back to Lagos before investigators could secure the black boxes. This return flight caused the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) to overwrite the data from the period of the incident. Investigators reported that while some rules allow for 26-hour recording capacities, they were only able to recover approximately two hours of low-quality data from this specific aircraft.

The aircraft was traveling from Lagos to Asaba with four crew members and three passengers on board; no injuries were reported. Despite the loss of primary flight recorder data, the NSIB is attempting to reconstruct the sequence of events using other available evidence.