The pilot of the chartered aircraft in which the Super Eagles flew to Libya has thrown more light on how the Libyan authorities diverted the plane that was supposed to land in Benghazi to another airport at Al-Abraq.
The Tunisian pilot made this known in a video interview posted on X by Sports Journalist Pooja Media on Tuesday, where he talked about the potential risks of the diversion.
He noted that all efforts to convince the authorities on the risks of diverting the plane fell on deaf ears.
“The flight plan was to land at Benghazi, Benina, and we had the approval from the Libyan Civil Aviation Authority to do so,” the pilot said.
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“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 (listed as) our alternate airport, something which is not good,” he added
“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 0plan and according to my authorisation, they said no, it’s from the highest authority, you have to land in Al-Abraq.”
Refuting claims from the media that the diversion was his decision, 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.
The pilot noted that all relevant communications and authorisations are documented and could be provided as evidence if needed.
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,” he said, adding that the airport’s lack of facilities left them with “no second chances” if the landing had gone wrong
“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”.
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COMMENTS
These Libyans actually planned to kill our players…..Can you imagine visual landing in minimal weather in an airport that wasn’t even listed as an alternate airport??…This situation will tell if the north Africans have Motsepe by the balls. CAF has to come down hard on these bastard terrorists.
NO 3 POINTS DEDUCTION FOR NIGERIA. MATCH WILL BE LIKELY POSTPONED. According to latest report:
“CAF has now reacted by first of all taking the proposed game out of their fixture list for today’s matches posted on their official Twitter handle. It is the first step which proves that the claims by the LFF that the game against Nigeria will go on as a walk over is null and void.”
These bastards actually went out of their way to actively put the lives of our players and all others aboard that flight in abject danger! The pilot was actually concerned that he might run out of fuel and had to make a visual landing and at night!! What if that pilot hadn’t been such an experienced pilot who had probably had plenty of experience making such visual landings in dodgy light and weather nko? That would have definitely been the end of all those on board! God forbid!
This is terrorism and pre-meditated attempted murder! These thickos need to be dragged before the international courts and tried for crimes against humanity ffs!
“They had strict orders not to welcome any Nigerian nationality, and were only willing to offer the pilot another north African (Tunisian) hotel accommodation out of all the people present”????????????! Look – make no mistake about it!!
This can only be described by one term – War!!
This is war! – those complete numpties have taken this too far! These are the absolute rock bottom scraping dwellers of the dregs of inhuman existence and they MUST be made to suffer for this type of unwarranted and completely disrespectful assault on the basic rights of an actual human being – they will pay, one way or another let me tell you!
It will be better for them to pay the easy way ie get fined and banned and shamed for this cowardice and for them to step up and own this ish because if they don’t then they will pay the hard way! Nuff said!
Absolute animals! Complete Twats! Shameful savages!
This is very disgraceful by the Libyan authorities. They actually put the lives of Super Eagles players, coaches, Nigeria football authorities, and the flight crew on the line as this is clearly a potential safety violation according to Aviation rules. These Libyans have crossed the line and shown their terrorist inclinations. CAF and Motsepe should let us know if Africa should condone this kind of behaviour as football should not be seen as a war!