History of ill-fated plane

The Associated Airlines Embraer 120 plane with registration number 5N-BJY, which crashed in Lagos on Thursday, was manufactured in Brazil in 1990.

Although its first flight date is unknown, the aircraft, with serial number 174, was said to be 23.5 years old.

According to Airfleets.net, it had been flown by three United States-based airlines namely, Britt Airlines, Continental Express and JRM Air LLC.

Britt Airlines bought the plane on March 23, 1990, and marked it in US registration as N51726. Continental Express later bought it on September 1, 1990 and kept it under US registration as N51726.

Before coming to Nigeria, the plane was later bought by JRM Air LCC which also marked it N 388JR. It was flown for six years in the country by Associated Airlines before Thursday’s accident.

Generally, the Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia is a twin-turboprop commuter airliner, produced by Embraer of Brazil. It had its first flight on July 27, 1983. The plane was introduced into the market in October 1985.

Serial production of the aircraft ended in 2001. As at 2007, it was still available for one-off orders, as it shared much of the production equipment with the ERJ-145 family, which is still produced. The Angolan Air Force, for example, received a new EMB 120 in 2007.

It was produced between 1983 and 2001. A total of 354 units were built.

SkyWest Airlines operates the largest fleet of EMB 120s under the United Express and Delta Connection brand. Great Lakes Airlines operates six EMB 120s in its fleet, and Ameriflight flies eight as freighters.

Its primary users were SkyWest Airlines and the Brazilian Air Force.

According to Wikipedia, most of the EMB 120s were sold in the United States and other destinations in the Western Hemisphere. Some European airlines such as Régional in France, Atlant-Soyuz Airlines in Russia, DAT in Belgium, and DLT in Germany also purchased EMB-120s.

After the success of the EMB-110 Bandeirante, Embraer began the development of their first transport category airliner in 1974. The so-called Family 12X comprised three models with modular concept designs: EMB-120 Araguaia, EMB-123-Tapajós and EMB-121 Xingu. EMB-121 was the sole 12X model effectively produced. Araguaia’s name was changed to Brasilia in 1979 at the official launching of the project, when at a Commuter Airline Association of America convention at USA several suggestions from prospective operators were collected and incorporated to EMB-120 design.

Associated Aviation is an airline based in Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. It was established in 1996 and operates passenger and cargo services within Nigeria and in West Africa. Its main base is Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

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