FACT-CHECK: Did Bad Weather Cause Diversion Of United Nigeria Airlines Flight To Asaba?
How true are claims by United Nigeria Airlines that it diverted Flight UN504 to Asaba due to bad weather at the Abuja airport. THE WHISTLER investigates using Open Source Intelligence Tools for planespotting
On Sunday 26th of November, 2023 a United Nigeria Airlines Flight UN504 destined for Abuja landed in Asaba to the dismay of passengers.
Passengers on the flight said the cabin crew announced “Welcome to Abuja” as the plane landed in Asaba.
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Salihu Yakasai, the Kano governorship candidate of Peoples’ Redemption Party in the 2023 election, who was in the aircraft said the plane departed the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport only for passengers to find themselves at the Asaba Airport.
He wrote, “We departed Lagos about an hour ago on Fly United to Abuja and upon arrival, the cabin crew confidently announced that we have arrived in Abuja only for us to realise that we landed in Asaba,”
According to him, the pilot announced that the “honest mistake” was caused by a mix-up in the flight plan given to him.
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However, the airline refuted claims that the arrival was an honest mistake describing it as a diversion due to bad weather.
A statement issued by the spokesman for the airline, Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu, said the pilots of the aircraft temporarily diverted the flight to the Asaba airport due to “poor destination weather”.
The airline said the confusion was caused after the cabin crew erroneously announced that the aircraft has landed in Abuja.
To verify the claims that the flight was diverted, THE WHISTLER used planespotting platform, Flightradar24 to track the flight and similar flights around the departure and arrival time.
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THE WHISTLER played back the flight path showing that the aircraft took off from the MMIA Airport, Lagos at 3:25pm Nigerian time and headed straight for the Asaba International Airport, Delta State.
The flight which arrived Asaba at 4:07pm was not diverted from the Abuja path as claimed by the airline.
A previous trip embarked on by the same United Nigeria Airline aircraft on 22nd November 2023 showed that the flight path to Lagos bore no similarity to that of Asaba.
Furthermore, another flight, APK7130 operated by Air Peace which took off from Lagos around the same time (3:21pm) as UN504 landed safely in Abuja at 4:25 pm and was not diverted.
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Also, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja’s arrival log showed that several aircraft landed between 3pm – 5pm without issue, they include three Air Peace flights which arrived from Lagos (Flights APK7130, APK7226, 7124).
Other aircraft which landed at the Abuja airport at that time include a Hawker 800 jet (5N-KAL), an unregistered Embraer Legacy 650 jet, Air Peace Flight APK7155.
Similarly, Nigerian Airforce’s Dassault Falcon 7X jet (5N-FGU), Ibom Air Flight IAN553, Rano Air Flight RAN2008, Skyjet Flight UBS4270 and Air Peace Flight APK7212 took off from the Abuja airport around the time of the alleged diversion.
More checks revealed that the weather in Abuja was mostly cloudy around the United Nigeria Airline Flight time with windspeeds up to 7 mph.
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (EUR Doc 013), an aircraft can land in cloudy weather, even when there is no visibility at all provided the airport is equipped with Instrument Landing System category IIIC (CAT IIIc)
The Abuja airport installed the Cat III ILS in August 2018 meaning the aircraft could have landed at the airport on the said date.
VERDICT
United Nigeria Airlines Flight UN504 made a direct flight to Asaba from Lagos, the flight was not diverted from the Abuja path. Also, the weather conditions were favourable for a safe landing in Abuja especially with the installation of CAT III ILS at the airport. Furthermore, 11 flights landed and took off from the Abuja airport during United Nigeria Airlines aircraft flight time.
Therefore, claims by the company that the flight was diverted due to bad weather is FALSE
