Cessna 208B Emergency Landing in Ghana After In-Flight Engine Failure (ZS-NUX)

Incident Overview and Flight Details On 11 August 2001, a Cessna 208B with registration ZS-NUX was conducting an international ferry flight from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, to Lagos, Nigeria. The aircraft was carrying two pilots and a maintenance engineer. Approximately 50 minutes into the flight, while cruising at flight level 070, the crew heard a loud bang followed by a decay in engine power (Ng). An in-flight engine relight was attempted but was unsuccessful. ## Emergency Landing and Impact Weather conditions at the time were overcast, with a cloud base of approximately 500 feet above ground level. The crew selected an open area and decided to land on a dirt road. During the descent, they observed power lines crossing the road at a 90-degree angle to their approach path. An open area approximately 30 meters to the left of the road was chosen for the landing. After rolling for about 80 meters, the nose wheel struck a rock and was severed from the fuselage. This caused the propeller and nose section to dig into the ground, resulting in the aircraft nosing over and coming to rest in an inverted position. ## Casualties and Location The accident site was located near Damang, Ghana, at GPS coordinates 05° 31.43’ North, 061° 51.02’ West, with an elevation of approximately 200 feet above mean sea level. Both pilots sustained facial lacerations, while the maintenance engineer escaped uninjured. No fatalities were reported.