By Paul Dada
The pilot of the chartered aircraft in which the Super Eagles flew to Libya, has given details on how the authorities in the North African country diverted the flight to the sub-standard airport at Al-Abraq.
The Tunisian pilot who flew the Nigerian team to Libya has shed light on the circumstances that led to the unexpected diversion of their flight to a remote airport, Al-Abraq, instead of their intended destination, Benghazi.
The pilot who is a Tunisian, in a video interview shared on the X handle of Pooja Media, said the risky diversion was unexpected.
He said his entreaties to the Libyans on the risks of doing so, fell on deaf ears.
He said: “The flight plan was to land at Benghazi, Benina, and we had the approval from the Libyan Civil Aviation Authority to do so.
“However, when we began our descent, they instructed us to divert to Al-Abraq, which is almost 150 miles away, around 300 kilometres east. It wasn’t even our alternate airport, something which is not good.
Talking about the potential risks of the diversion, he said: “In aviation, we have our flight plan, we calculate the fuel to our destination, so we have to avoid this kind of thing because it may make a breach to safety,” he stated, adding that he repeatedly questioned the directive.
“When I asked to land in Benghazi according to my flight plan and according to my authorisation, they said no, it’s from the highest authority, you have to land in Al-Abraq.”
Speaking further, he said: “Everything is registered in aviation, we cannot hide anything, so I asked them several times, at least eight times, and I warned them, probably I will be in trouble for fuel; they said it’s from highest authority, you cannot land in Benghazi, you have to divert immediately to Al-Abraq,” he added.
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He said, “The truth was we were going to Benghazi, and I can show you the evidence of the approval, I have it. But at the last minute, they changed their mind and changed the airport.
“There is no ILS (Instrument Landing System), no air navigation approach, no VHR (VHF Omnidirectional Range). We had to make a visual landing, which is particularly difficult by night with marginal weather.”
The pilot stated: “It was not an easy matter at all. When a pilot hears this, he will understand that it was not an easy thing to land under such conditions. Thank God we made it safely.”
