On the 5th of November 2019, at about 07:35 h; a Boeing 737-500 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BUJ owned and operated by Air Peace Limited departed Murtala Muhammed International Airport (DNMM), Lagos as flight APK7004 for Sam Mbakwe Airport (DNIM), Owerri. It was a scheduled flight on an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight plan with six (6) crew members and eighty-four (84) passengers on board. The First Officer was the Pilot Flying (PF) while the Captain was the Pilot Monitoring (PM).
The flight crew stated that they resumed for duty at 06:00 h, as required to operate the flight, which was the first sector for the day. The crew carried out the pre-flight inspection and waited to receive the current destination weather before requesting Operations Control Center (OCC) to call for boarding. The crew then requested for Engine start up clearance and approval was granted by the ATC. Parameters for the two engines were reported to be normal. Taxi clearance was thereafter requested and approval granted after the crew completed the appropriate checklists.