The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) have confirmed that the pilot of a private jet erased critical flight logs following a bizarre landing on a public road in Delta State.
The incident, involving a Bombardier Challenger 601 operated by VMO Aero, occurred on July 10, 2026. After missing the runway at Asaba Airport, the jet touched down on a parallel concrete road in nearby Ogwashi-Uku—a manoeuvre that immediately raised questions about crew judgment and flight operations.
Speaking at a virtual media briefing, Alex Badeh, Director-General of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), revealed that the pilot subsequently flew the aircraft back to Lagos without Air Traffic Control (ATC) clearance.
Because aircraft Flight Data Recorders (FDRs) rely on continuous loop memory—where newer telemetry automatically overwrites older recordings once storage capacity is reached- the unauthorised flight back to Lagos effectively wiped the performance data recorded during the botched landing.
“It was discovered that the pilot who flew that aircraft overwrote the black boxes by the time he flew to Lagos. Everything that happened was overwritten. We are still investigating, but some of the data was destroyed,” Badeh stated.
