Tom,
Caverton may be able to get the money for the A109 sooner than they thought. The 109 was flying, probably single crew, probably with a pilot new to the Port Harcourt area (as the machine is normally Lagos based), and he failed to find the NAF Base in heavy rain this afternoon, so had to put down in a field. The way the security situation is here now, the aircraft has probably already been broken up for spare parts and pieces will be available in Aba market by this evening!
Seriously though, I hope the crew and passengers are okay. It's another thing which highlights the dangers of flying in this country where the weather is unpredictable and accurate forecasts are practically non-existent. It's really necessary for companies to make sure the crews have a lot of experience in this area before letting them just blast off on their own. With so many of the companies losing many of their experienced guys there's every possibility of the same thing happening again. It's all too easy for a newcomer to arrive here and think that it's really pretty easy (which it is for 90% of the time) but normal rules, like being able to make a forced landing in a helicopter to avoid bad weather are fraught with danger here, as even when you can land, you may well then be in even more danger.
