A Nigeria Air Force (NAF) Hercules C130 training plane flew “very close” to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) building that collapsed on September 12, 2014, an aviation expert, Dr Yakubu Dazhia, has said.
He, however, added that measuring a plane’s altitude required special equipment.
Dazhia, who descrided himself as an aircraft engineer, aviation consultant and airline operator, told Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of the Lagos High Court that the plane flew past the building shortly before it collapsed.
The plane, he said, was captured on Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) flying well below the 1000ft flight altitude recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Dazhia was testifying in the trial of the church’s trustees, its engineer and their companies over the collapsed building in which 116 died and scores injured.
Led in evidence by the trustees’ counsel, Olamilekan Ojo (SAN), the witness said ICAO’s recommended safe altitude for flight in a congested area such as Ikotun-Egbe, the incident scene, is 1,000ft
“No aircraft, except for takeoff and landing, should fly over a congested area at a minimum of 1,000 feet or 300 metres between the aircraft and the highest obstacle in a congested area. Meaning that the distance between the aircraft and the tallest building in that area should not be less than 1,000ft,” he said.
Dazhia, said he was in Abuja when the building collapsed, but flew to Lagos and the next day (September 13), he joined the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Aviation and “assisted in the operation to rescue people that were trapped.
He said he is an elder in Winner Chapel, but worshipped at Synagogue whenever he visited Lagos in the last 10 years.
“On the 14th, a Sunday, we were shown the CCTV footage (of the incident). The camera was at Gate 5 of SCOAN. The distance from Gate 5 to the building was less than 500 metres.”
The witness told the judge that the CCTV’s vertical view could “not go beyond 200 metres.”
“We discovered that this aircraft flew very close to the building. If it was flying according to regulations, the CCTV wouldn’t have captured it.”
He said he and several church members, including six or seven pilots, were told the plane was an Air Force aircraft and it was for training.
“They mentioned that training with aircraft was to be only done in Ilorin, which has the longest runway in the federation. Why were they training in Lagos?” he asked.
Asked by Ojo for his observation about the incident, Dazhia said: “As a professional, I insist that only the pilot knows why he was flying at a low altitude. That is all I have to say.”
Under cross examination by Lagos State Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Dr Baba-Jide Martins, Dazhia said although he had an engineering degree, his PhD “has nothing to do with aircraft engineering.”
He said he was not an air traffic controller, a bomb expert or accident investigator. The witness added that he did not lodge any complaint about the incident with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Organisation (NCAO).
When Martins asked: “You didn’t inform the Air Force about your concern?”
Dazhia responded: “You wanted them to gun me down, to kill me?”
The witness stated that measuring a plane’s altitude required special equipment, adding: “An individual can’t do that with the naked eyes.”
Martins: “Ikotun is a flight path?”
Dazhia: “Yes.”
Martins: “It is not unusual for planes to pass over Ikotun as part of a flight path?”
Dazhia: “Yes.”
Justice Lawal-Akapo adjourned till March 14.
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