Originally Posted by
birmingham
Nobody would undertake a return to LOS, overweight landing and evacuation lightly. If they hadn't believed there was a serious fire risk they would probably have burned fuel and gone to Accra.
Under part 121, if you shut down an engine on a twin, you are explicitly required to land at the "nearest suitable airport". The FAA has, in fact, brought enforcement actions on precisely this point. I suppose there there's is some wiggle room in "suitable" but it would be a tough argument to make that Lagos is suitable for a scheduled detestation, but unsuitable for an emergency diversion, hence continuing on some 200 nm to Accra.