Accident
1969 aviation accident
On 20 November 1969, Nigeria Airways Flight 925, a Vickers VC10 aircraft, crashed while on approach to Lagos International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria killing all 87 people on board.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “Nigeria Airways Flight 925”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
On 20 November 1969, Nigeria Airways Flight 925, a Vickers VC10 aircraft, crashed while on approach to Lagos International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria killing all 87 people on board.
Nigeria Airways Flight 925 was en route from London to Lagos with intermediate stops in Rome and Kano. It was piloted by captain Valentine Moore, 56; first officer John Wallis, 30; flight engineer George Albert Baker, 50; and navigator Basil Payton, 49. With its undercarriage down and its flaps partially extended, the VC10 struck trees 13 kilometres (8.1 mi; 7.0 nmi) short of runway 19 at Lagos. The aircraft crashed into the ground in an area of thick forest and exploded.
All 76 passengers and 11 crew on board were killed. Flight 925 was the first ever fatal crash involving the Vickers VC10 as well as the deadliest accident or incident involving the type.
Immediately after the accident, three automatic weapons were found in the wreckage. To counter a rumour that a fight between a prisoner and two guards caused the crash, a ballistics expert was consulted. It was learned that none of the weapons had been recently fired.
The cause of the crash was not determined with certainty. The flight recorder was not working at the time of the crash. It was determined to be most probably due to the flight crew being unaware of the aircraft's actual altitude during the final approach and allowing the aircraft to come below safe height when not in visual contact with the ground. Fatigue may have also been a contributing factor.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Nigeria Airways Flight 925”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.