On 2nd February, 2019 at about 07:26 h, an AgustaWestland (AW139) helicopter with nationality and registration marks 5N-CML owned and operated by Caverton Helicopters Limited departed Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos, for Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, to conduct a chartered VIP flight from Abuja to Okene via Kabba and then return to Abuja. The positioning flight to Abuja was uneventful.
At about 13:46 h, the helicopter departed Abuja runway 22 for Kabba, Kogi State on a VIP chartered flight Nigeria 002 (NGR002), on a Visual Flight Rule (VFR) Flight Plan with 12 persons onboard, including the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, his entourage and three crew members (Captain, Co-Pilot and an Engineer). The fuel onboard was 1,268 kg. A squawk code of 1301 was given by the Air Traffic Control (ATC) for radar monitoring. The Captain was the Pilot Flying (PF) while the Co-pilot was the Pilot Monitoring (PM).
