On the 23rd July 2019, at about 13:57 h, a Boeing 737-500 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BQM, owned and operated by Med-View Airline departed Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja (NAIA) for Murtala Muhammed International Airport(MMIA) Lagos, as a scheduled commercial flight (MEV2105). The Flight was operating on an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight plan. MEV2105 was the return leg of the two sectors scheduled for the day. There were 34 persons on board inclusive of two pilots and four cabin crew. The captain was the Pilot Flying (PF) while the First Officer was the Pilot Monitoring (PM).
According to the crew, descending out FL320 to Lagos, the Pilot Flying (PF) handed over the control of the aircraft to the Pilot Monitoring (PM) in order to brief the passengers on the arrival time, Lagos weather information and the delay for landing. While briefing the passengers through the public address (PA) system, the cabin altitude warning horn sounded on descent to FL160.
The crew stated that the briefing was discontinued even as they donned the oxygen masks, set pressurization mode selector to ”MAN” and close the valve. Emergency descent was initiated and the Emergency Descent Checklist was executed. The passenger oxygen mask deployed automatically before the switch was activated by the First Officer as instructed in the Emergency Descent Checklist.
At 15:07 h, the aircraft landed safely. The crew taxied the aircraft to the apron where it was parked and the passenger and crew disembarked without injury.
The incident occurred in daylight.
The draft final report is being compiled and at analysis stage. Upon completion, it will be sent to stakeholders for their substantial comments in line with the requirements of section 6.3 of international civil aviation organization (ICAO) Annex 13 to the convention.
