The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has indicted an Air Peace pilot and co-pilot for testing positive for alcohol and hard drugs after their aircraft was involved in a runway excursion at the Port Harcourt International Airport on July 13, 2025.
In a preliminary report signed by the Bureau’s Director of Public Affairs and Family Assistance, Mrs. Bimbo Olawumi Oladeji, and made available to The PUNCH on Friday, investigators revealed that toxicology results showed alcohol in the pilots’ systems, while a cabin crew member tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in cannabis.
The Air Peace Boeing 737 aircraft, carrying 103 passengers from Lagos to Port Harcourt, landed long on Runway 21 after an unstabilised final approach, touching down 2,264 metres beyond the threshold. It eventually came to a stop 209 metres into the clearway. All passengers and crew disembarked safely without injuries.
The NSIB explained that the crew’s intoxication is now being reviewed as a human performance factor in the investigation.
“Initial toxicological tests conducted on the flight crew revealed positive results for certain substances, including indicators of alcohol consumption. A cabin crew member also tested positive for THC,” the report stated.
The Bureau has since issued immediate safety recommendations to Air Peace, urging the airline to strengthen crew resource management training, enforce stricter monitoring of crew fitness-for-duty before flight dispatch, and reinforce go-around decision procedures.
The preliminary findings mark the first time crew intoxication has been officially linked to a runway excursion in Nigeria, expanding the list of common incursion causes beyond miscommunication, equipment failure, and runway conditions.
