- A CL60 aircraft operated by Triton Aviation lost a door shortly after taking off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Thursday, October 15
- The crew transmitted a Mayday distress call about three nautical miles from the airport and were directed back to Abuja by air traffic control
- The missing door was later found by farmers on a farm in the Abuja area, raising serious questions about the state of the aircraft
A Triton Aviation jet sparked panic at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Thursday, October 15, after it lost a door in flight minutes after take-off, forcing the crew to declare an emergency and turn back.
The aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger 600 series jet with registration number T7-SEI and flight identification DWC052, had departed Abuja at 4:17 pm UTC on Runway 22, bound for Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos. At about 4:20 pm, while climbing through 3,000 feet and roughly three nautical miles from the airport, the crew radioed a distress call: "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday."
Source: Getty Images
Emergency response at Abuja Airport
The Punch reported that an incident report showed that the crew notified the air traffic control tower that a door had come open in flight. The approach radar controller immediately directed the aircraft to return to Abuja. Fire and emergency personnel, along with medical teams, were placed on standby and moved to designated positions on the ground.
At about 4:29 pm UTC, while in communication with the Abuja control tower, the crew asked whether ground controllers could confirm if the door was still open. The aircraft landed safely on Runway 22 at approximately 4:34 pm UTC, around 14 minutes after the Mayday call was first transmitted.
On the ground, the duty controller observed that the door was no longer attached to the fuselage, confirming the full extent of the incident. The jet was subsequently taxied to the international apron extension and parked with the help of a marshaller.
Door recovered on a farm
A video obtained by The PUNCH showed the door had been recovered by farmers who came across it on farmland in the Abuja area. A man in the video, whose identity could not be confirmed, said the farmers found it while returning from their fields.
The number of passengers on board could not be confirmed at the time of the report.
The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Michael Achimugu, confirmed the incident but said the NCAA could not comment further, noting that the matter fell under the jurisdiction of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).
The NSIB did not provide an immediate official response, though a source within the agency confirmed the gravity of the incident and said the bureau's management had deployed investigators to the scene. An official statement was expected in due course.
Triton Aviation could not be reached for comment before this report was filed.
See the video of the private jet on X here:
Source: Legit.ng