The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has indicted an Air Peace pilot and co-pilot after toxicology tests revealed they had consumed alcohol and hard drugs prior to a serious runway incident at Port Harcourt International Airport on July 13, 2025.
According to a preliminary report signed by Mrs. Bimbo Olawumi Oladeji, the NSIB’s Director of Public Affairs and Family Assistance, the substance use was confirmed during post-incident testing.
The incident involved an Air Peace Boeing 737 carrying 103 passengers on a domestic flight from Lagos to Port Harcourt.
The aircraft experienced an unstabilized final approach, landed long on Runway 21—touching down 2,264 meters from the runway threshold—and came to a halt 209 meters into the clearway.
While all passengers and crew disembarked safely and no injuries were reported, the runway excursion raised significant safety concerns.
Toxicological tests conducted on the flight crew revealed the presence of alcohol in their systems, with the captain and first officer testing positive for ethyl glucuronide, a marker of recent alcohol consumption.
Additionally, a cabin crew member tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in cannabis.
The NSIB emphasized that these findings are being reviewed under the framework of human performance and safety management, critical elements in aviation investigations.
Following the discovery, the NSIB issued urgent safety recommendations to Air Peace, including enhanced crew resource management training, stricter procedures for monitoring crew fitness-for-duty before flight dispatch, and improved handling of unstabilized approaches and go-around decisions.
The bureau noted that pilot intoxication has now been added to the list of potential causes for runway incursions, alongside miscommunication, equipment failure, and poor runway conditions.
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