A private jet in Nigeria was forced to make an emergency landing after one of its doors detached mid-air, thousands of feet above the ground. The Challenger 604 aircraft, operated by Triton Aviation, was flying from the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to Lagos on Thursday (Oct 15) when the incident occured shortly after take-off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
The incident prompted the pilots to issue a Mayday distress call and return to the airport, where emergency services were placed on standby. All nine people on board escaped unharmed.
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NISB) stated that the aircraft was roughly three nautical miles from the airport and climbing through 3,500 feet when the crew declared an emergency after the door separated from the plane’s body.
According to a report in Gulf News, the pilots initially reported that a door had opened during the flight but were unsure whether it remained attached to the aircraft.
After the emergency alert, the flight landed safely on Runway 22 at Abuja airport, where all passengers and crew members were accounted for. None of them suffered any injuries either.
The missing door was later discovered near a farmland in Abuja and it has been kept at NSIB’s wreckage hangar for examination. Video footage circulating online showed people examining what appeared to be the detached aircraft component.
The bureau’s director-general, Captain Alex Badeh Jr., confirmed that an investigation had begun to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident. Based on the preliminary investigation, no definitive cause has been determined. The investigators are probing if it was a mechanical failure, maintenance issue or another factor.