Nigerian Stowaway Found Dead in Arik Air’s Undercarriage

The dead body of a young Nigerian man was discovered Friday in the wheel well, the undercarriage compartment of an Arik Air aircraft, after it returned from a flight to New York, United States.

According to the airline’s officials, the deceased might have hidden himself in the wheel well for days and was crushed to death while the flight was airborne to the JF Kennedy Airport, New York, from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

It was revealed that the dead body was found during a check on the aircraft panel as it was being prepared for another flight and that the undercarriage compartment of the Airbus A340-500 is big enough to accommodate a person, besides the space for the tyres.

"He probably might have hidden himself there some days and died while the aircraft was on its way to New York. We found him when we were doing checks on the panel; the aircraft probably came back with him dead," the official said.

Nigeria’s Department of State Services Releases Statement on Arik Air Bomb Scare

Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) has blamed yesterday's incident on an Arik Air flight from Maiduguri to Abuja on a mentally-unstable man whose “condition was triggered off” by turbulence.  

Below is a brief highlight of the incident that occurred on the Arik Air flight from Maiduguri to Abuja.

Arik Plane Rams into Airforce Military Aircraft

An Arik Airline Boeing 737-700 with registration No 5NMJI yesterday brushed the wing of a parked Air Force Hercules C-130 (NAF 917) at the Jos Airport.  The Nigeria Air Force in a statement signed by Wing Commander Adedayo Makun for Director of Public Relations and Information, said that no casualty was recorded. 

The statement explained that the incident occurred at about 1.45 p.m. when the Arik aircraft was taxiing at the airport tarmac in preparation for take-off. The tank 1 wing tip of the NAF C-130 was damaged, while the wing of the Arik aircraft was dismembered and hung on the NAF aircraft. 

There was no casualty recorded during the incident. However, the two aircrafts had to abort t heir missions,’’ it said. The C-130 aircraft was in Jos to airlift students of the Airforce Military School and Airforce Girls Military School both in Jos and was waiting for them to move from school to the airport when the accident occurred. 

A Must Read: List of Nigerian Commercial Planes and their Ages

I saw this on Linda Ikeji and just had to share it, I feel this will help us carefully choose which airline to book just to be safe...

The list was gotten from Planespotters.net, a civil aviation database with 200000+ photos and information on 30000+ aircrafts. 

And what you will find after the cut is a comprehensive list of all aircrafts used in Nigeria and their ages. There's actually a 30+ year old plane flying in Nigeria. 


Aero Contractors Current Fleet

5N-BIZ 24558 1845 Boeing 737-4B7 01-02-2007 N436US 22.2 Years

5N-BJA 24873 1931 Boeing 737-4B7 05-2007 N446US lsf Jet Partners LLC 21.7 Years

5N-BJO 534 De Havilland Canada DHC-8-311Q Dash 8 Y50 23-02-2007 C-FLGJ lsd 12.9 Years

5N-BKQ 26695 2423 Boeing 737-522 28-08-2008 VP-BSW lsf GECAS 19.4 Years

5N-BKR 26699 2485 Boeing 737-522 14-08-2008 VP-BSX lsf GECAS 19 Years

5N-BLC 26692 2421 Boeing 737-522 26-09-2008 VP-BSV 19.4 Years

5N-BLD 26675 2345 Boeing 737-522 10-08-2008 VP-BSU lsf GECAS 19.9 Years

5N-BLE 26672 2343 Boeing 737-522 02-04-2009 VP-BSQ 19.9 Years

5N-BLG 25387 2179 Boeing 737-522 28-08-2011 VP-BTI 20.5 Years

5N-BLH 25383 2146 Boeing 737-522 Due VP-BTG lsf WFBN 20.7 Years

5N-BOB 24232 2060 Boeing 737-42C 26-03-2012 EI-CWE lsf AWAS 21 Years

5N-BOC 24814 2270 Boeing 737-42C 17-10-2011 EI-CWF lsf AWAS 20.2 Years

Wow! See more after the cut...

Arik Air Hostess Arrested at Heathrow for Cocaine Possession

Chinwendu Uwakaonyenma Ogbonnaya,  a thirty-year old Nigerian, was arrested on Sunday 18 December over an allegation of smuggling four kilogram’s of cocaine into the United Kingdom.

A statement by the British High Commission in Abuja Tuesday said the drug was discovered in an item of luggage conveyed by Ogbonnaya.

“She had arrived into Heathrow Terminal 4 having travelled on an Arik Air flight from Lagos in Nigeria,” the statement said, adding that she was charged with attempting to import a class A substance, and appeared before Uxbridge Magistrate court Tuesday.