NAF 931 CRASH: PILOT SACRIFICED HIMSELF TO SAVE IGBOKODA RESIDENTS

The Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft, registration NAF 931, was already in distress. What happened in the final seconds determined whether Igbokoda would mourn 25 people or hundreds.

The pilot chose 25.

According to accounts emerging from the crash investigation, the pilot deliberately steered the stricken aircraft away from built-up areas of Igbokoda, the headquarters of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, before it went down.

The aircraft had departed Benin City, Edo State, en route to Lagos on October 5 when it crashed. All 25 people on board, five crew members and 20 passengers, died.

The decision to avoid the town meant the aircraft came down in a less densely populated area, preventing what could have been a catastrophic loss of civilian life on the ground.

A FINAL ACT OF DUTY

Military aviation places a unique burden on pilots. When an aircraft fails, the pilot’s options narrow to seconds. Ejecting may save the pilot. Steering away from populated areas may save others.

Choosing the latter means choosing death.

Residents of Igbokoda have described hearing the aircraft overhead before the crash, and the absence of destruction in the town itself has been attributed to the pilot’s final manoeuvre.

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Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, has said the military would conduct a thorough investigation and ensure all relevant evidence is secured, documented and examined before any conclusions are reached about the cause of the accident.

THE CALL FOR INDEPENDENCE

AAC presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore, who visited the crash site, demanded an independent probe, insisting that those responsible for maintenance and procurement should not investigate themselves.

“Those who are responsible for maintenance, procurements should not be the ones investigating what happened. We should bring outsiders,” Sowore said.

“How it is done all over the world is that every part of that aircraft must be retrieved and pinned back together by experts because if there had been a bomb blast, how would we know?”

A NATION’S DEBT

The pilot’s name has not been officially released, but the manner of his death has already earned him a place in the memory of a community he never knew.

Igbokoda will remember the man who made sure the town did not become a massive burial site following the crash. ValidViewNetwork reports that investigations into the cause of the crash continue.