Recent major airplane crashes in Nigeria
Jun 3, 2012, 10:55 PM
(AP) – A look at recent major airline crashes in Nigeria:
_June 3: A Dana Air flight from Abuja to Lagos crashes killing all 153 people on board and an unknown number of people on the ground. Investigators have begun looking into the cause.
_Oct. 29, 2006: An Aviation Development Co. flight from Abuja to Sokoto crashes, killing 96 people, including the top spiritual leader for the nation’s Muslims. The plane crashed 76 seconds after going airborne. An investigative report found that just before the crash alarms began sounding in the cockpit and that the pilots’ incorrect actions stalled the plane. The report read: “Although bad weather may have created the situation, which the pilots reacted to, they reacted inappropriately.”
_Dec. 10, 2005: A Sosoliso Airlines flight full of schoolchildren flying from Abuja to Port Harcourt crashes, killing 107 people. A U.S. Federal Aviation Administration report later says the pilot was “reportedly racing a thunderstorm” nearing the airport. The report said inclement weather also forced the pilot to make an instrument landing _ meaning that visibility had been reduced to the point the pilot needed to rely on instruments to make his landing.
_Oct. 22, 2005: A Bellview Airlines flight crashes, killing 117 people, including a U.S. citizen, after nose-diving into the ground at high speed. An investigative report later said the plane’s captain, a 49-year-old former pilot, had been hired by Bellview after he had been working at a dairy for about 14 years. The report said the pilot also had been “shot in the head during a robbery attempt” during that break from flying.
_May 4, 2002: An EAS airliner with 77 people aboard crashes into a bustling working-class neighborhood in the northern city of Kano just after takeoff. Only four people aboard survived the crash, which killed dozens more on the ground. In total, at least 149 people were killed.
_Sept. 27, 1992: A military transport plane crashes into a swamp shortly after takeoff from Lagos. All 163 army soldiers, relatives and crew members on board were killed.
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