Missing Jet: Airfoce Boss Rules Out Sabotage, Says Search Continues

The Nigeria Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Adeshola Amosun has said that there was no sign of sabotage in the missing, on Friday, of an Alpha airforce jet that was taking part in the battle with members of Boko Haram in Adamawa state, even as he said that the search for the jet is continuing.
Answering reporters’ questions shortly after a closed door meeting with Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, today, Air Marshal Amosun gave a hope that the two pilots aboard the jet may be alive.
“We don’t suspect any abotage. This is because it is a distant of just from Maiduguri to Yola. We are in full control of the air space. “But don’t forget that when you loose radio signal it becomes very challenging. There are so many possibilities but we are working on it.”
The Chief of Air Staff said that he was hopeful that before the end of the day or this week “we should be able to provide credible information as to the location of the aircraft and then the pilots.
“But one thing is clear: whatever problem they had, an ejection was contemplated. It is therefore my hope that the pilots are still alive.
Amosun said that the authorities have an idea of where the aircraft could be even as he explained that the missing Alpha Jet was on routine operation in the North East.
He said that in the process, the pilots lost contact with the control towers, leading the authorities to immediately initiate search.
“The weather has not been helpful as we have deployed all our surveillance capability. The citizens have been very, very helpful and we have gotten good information from them.”
According to Air Marshal Amosun, in aviation sector, “we have some specific information that we ought to have to make the search easy.
“But the information we are getting from the citizens are good but not sufficient enough for us to define the area of search.”
On the terrain where the jet got missing, the airforce chief described it as an open Sahel that is sometimes very challenging.
“Human beings standing may look like trees and again the area we are talking about we have operations going on there and we have limitations as to how low we can come to conduct the search.”

[myad]