Aero Contractors Jet Suffers Spoiler Damage on Lagos Takeoff Roll

Aero Contractors flight NIG127, a Boeing 737-400 with registration 5N-BOB carrying 141 passengers and five crew from Lagos to Abuja, turned back to Murtala Muhammed International Airport on 21 July 2015 after a passenger alerted cabin crew to what looked like a tear on the right wing, according to the Accident Investigation Bureau's final report. The aircraft had been climbing through around 6,000 feet when the report was passed to the flight deck.

The first officer went back into the cabin to confirm what the passenger had seen and reported to the captain that part of the right inboard ground spoiler had come away in flight. The captain elected to return to Lagos, and the aircraft landed safely on runway 18R roughly twenty minutes later, though the crew described severe vibration during the high-speed part of the landing roll that only eased once the aircraft slowed to taxi speed.

A Damaged Tyre Discovered on the Ground

Another aircraft taxiing nearby radioed the control tower to report that 5N-BOB appeared to have a damaged tyre, information relayed to the crew once they had cleared the runway. Nobody on board was injured, and the aircraft was withdrawn from service for inspection and repair of the damaged spoiler panel and landing gear.

Second Serious Incident of the Year for the Carrier

The occurrence came roughly six weeks after another Aero Contractors aircraft suffered a pressurisation fault en route to Kaduna, making it the second serious incident involving the carrier's fleet within the same stretch of 2015, and one of four separate serious safety occurrences at Nigerian airports that the Accident Investigation Bureau catalogued that July alone. The cluster of incidents, all resolved without injury, nonetheless kept pressure on Nigerian carriers over fleet maintenance standards at a time when many airlines were already stretched by fuel scarcity and a weakening naira.