 An ADC Airlines Boeing 737-200 similar to the one involved in the crash | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 29 October 2006 |
| Summary | Crashed due to pilot error, poor decision to take-off in bad weather, wind shear condition |
| Site | near Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Nigeria 8°59′41.5″N 7°14′46.3″E / 8.994861°N 7.246194°E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 737-2B7 |
| Operator | ADC Airlines |
| Registration | 5N-BFK |
| Flight origin | Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar, Nigeria |
| 1st stopover | Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nigeria |
| Last stopover | Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Nigeria |
| Destination | Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport, Sokoto, Nigeria |
| Occupants | 105 |
| Passengers | 100 |
| Crew | 5 |
| Fatalities | 96 |
| Injuries | 9 |
| Survivors | 9 |
ADC Airlines Flight 053 (ADK053) was a scheduled passenger flight operated by ADC Airlines from Nigeria's capital of Abuja to Sokoto. On 29 October 2006, the Boeing 737-2B7 crashed onto a corn field shortly after take-off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, killing 96 out of 105 people on board.[1]
The investigation of the crash, conducted by Nigeria's Accident Investigation Bureau, blamed the pilot's decision to take off in unsuitable weather as the primary cause of the crash, as presence of windshear at the time posed serious risk to the aircraft's ability to fly. Further investigation revealed inadequate company oversights on windshear recovery training and lack of teamwork among the pilots of Flight 053.
The crash killed several prominent figures in Nigeria, particularly the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Maccido, the leader of Sokoto and spiritual leader of Nigeria's 70 million Muslims, and his son, Senator Badamasi Maccido. It highlighted Nigeria's poor aviation safety record as it was the third major aviation disaster in less than a year, after Bellview Airlines Flight 210 and Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 in 2005, with a combined death toll of 321 people. The crash led to the creation of an independent aviation regulatory body of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. Since then, the nation's aviation safety has significantly improved. There were no more major aviation accidents in Nigeria until the 2012 Dana Air crash.