Wings Aviation Airplane Missing!

[V1_RHOT8]

The boy who cried wolf.

Do we act surprised?

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/apr/25/614.html

Incredible: Ex-gov diverted 'missing' plane - Plane found in an African country


By Our Reporters
Friday, April 25, 2008

THE Beechcraft 1900D aircraft declared missing since March 15 may have been flown out of the country on the order of a former governor to weaken evidences against him in his ongoing trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).


Reliable security sources indicated that the aircraft, owned by the former governor, was flown to a West African country as directed by the embattled ex-governor who is facing corruption charges at a Federal High Court.

According to the security sources, the aircraft was one of the exhibits to be used in the prosecution of the ex-governor as the EFCC had listed it as one of the properties acquired by the ex-governor while in office.

Informed sources revealed that the aircraft was hurriedly moved to destroy evidence that the ex-governor acquired any aircraft, as the anti-graft body has alleged in its over 103 charges against him.

The source revealed that the sudden disappearance of the aircraft had put the EFCC in a very tight corner as it could no longer prove the allegation that the ex-governor purchased an aircraft with state funds.

It was alleged that the flying out of the aircraft was carefully arranged to make it look as if it crashed on its way to Obudu. Aviation experts have revealed that all crashed aircraft automatically send signals about their location or emit heavy smoke, but neither of these features was present with regard to the missing plane.

The security officials added that the aircraft might be hidden somewhere within the sub-region or leased, and urged that the searchlight be beamed on some small countries in West Africa. It was alleged that the airport security personnel were not at alert, and the pilot of the plane may have used Obudu as a decoy for the destination of the aircraft.

An earlier false information about the missing aircraft was that it had been found at Mbagu Village in Yalla Local Government Area of Cross River State, while the three crew members aboard were dead.

The name of the pilot was given as Captain Augustine Egbedi, that of the co-pilot as Captain Tanko (other name not given), while the third occupant was said to be Miss Tuberata A., the airline’s standardisation officer.

The Federal Government, two weeks ago, set up a probe panel headed by a retired Air force Officer, Air Vice Marshal Saliu Atawodi, to investigate the disappearance of the aircraft and, if possible, to locate the site of the crash.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Air Transportation, Mr. Felix Hyat, has said that the equipment for an effective search for the missing Beechcraft 1900D aircraft was lacking in Nigeria.

He disclosed this in an interview with aviation journalists in Lagos after a meeting with the staff of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on Wednesday evening.

According to him, there was decay in the nation’s aviation industry because of the past neglect. He said the Federal Government was already working out modalities to ensure that it got to the root of the missing aircraft.

“We don’t have what it takes to carry out an efficient search and rescue operation in this country. We don’t have the wherewithal to handle such an issue,” he said.

However, the minister declared that government was already making moves to ensure that necessary equipment to ensure that the country was well positioned to handle such a situation in future was put in place.

“Government is already working on that. We are working with NEMA so as to ensure we have a very virile search and rescue. We want to put all resources on the ground so that when there is such a case, we will know it is not our fault,” he stressed.