Associated Aviation Flight 361

The aircraft was conveying the body of former governor of Ondo State Olusegun Agagu from Lagos to Akure for burial. It lifted off from runway 18L of Murtala Mohammed Airport at about 09:32 local time (08:32 UTC). The crew received warnings from the aircraft's aural warning system during the takeoff-roll and also failed to make "V1" and "rotate" calls; the aircraft then struggled to gain altitude immediately after takeoff.[3] Less than a minute after lifting off, the aircraft impacted terrain in a nose-down-and-near-90-degrees-bank attitude.[3]

Reports differ but according to the manifest the flight had 13 passengers and seven crew; four passengers and two crew survived the accident but one of passengers later died in hospital.[3] Fatalities included relatives of Olusegun Agagu; and officials of the Ondo State Government. An elaborate burial ceremony planned for Agagu was postponed as a result of the crash.[4]

The aircraft used for the flight was an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, registered 5N-BJY, and manufactured in 1990, at the time of the crash, 5N-BJY was 33 years old. It was delivered to Associated Aviation in May 2007.[5]

Nigeria's Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), responsible for investigating air crashes, opened an investigation into the fatal accident.[6]On 11 October 2013, the AIB released a preliminary report suggesting that improperly configured flaps for takeoff might have led to the crash. The report also reveals that the No. 1 engine appeared to be working normally whilst the No. 2 engine produced significantly less thrust.[3]

An analysis of Nigeria's AIB shows that both engines were operating, but, the left hand torque was fixed at 76% after the engine was started instead of the normal value of 22%. The crew as tried to resolve the problem with an Electronic Engine Control test but without results. At that point the crew had to shut down the engines, however, they continued whitout the reference to the Minimum Equipment List, and whitout an operative torque indicator the flight was to not be continued. During the taxiing phase the pilots are suspecting that the torque indication was caused by an EEC problem and they decided to use an engine temperature indication to adjust the problem on engine, but, this procedure doesn't appear on the flight manual.[3]

On 18 April 2018 Accident Investigation Bureau released the final report stated that, the decision of the crew to continue with take-off despite the abnormal RPM indication of n° 2 propeller, a low altitude stall at the start of the take-off roll caused by the low thrust from n° 2 engine, caused by an undetermined malfuction of the propeller control unit.

Other contributing factors was the following:

• The crew rotating the aircraft before they reaching the V1 speed;
• The crew's decision of continuing the Take-off roll despite both, flaps configuration and auto-feathering at low speed warnings;
• The unprofessional behavior by the pilots;
• An inadequate application of theI? Crew Resources Management (CRM);
• Poor flight culture of the company;
• An inadequate regulatory oversight by the NCAA.

Also some reccomendation for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) were made that are the following:

• Some improvements in the enforcement of the regulations in particular to implementing the operators approved personnel training program;
• Intensification of the safety oversight function on the airline to guarantee all flight operation to be carried out in accordance to the operation manuals that are approved, to will be in accordance with the provisions of Nig. CARs.;
• Intensifying the safety oversight over Associated Aviation Ltd. to assure staff welfare problems, payments are settled promptly;
• Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority should ensure that the State's confidential voluntary reporting system is established and implemented in conformity with the State Security Program.[3]

• Preliminary report, no longer available (Archive) - Accident Investigation Bureau
• First interim statement
• Second interim statement
• Final report