The Paperwork Lie That Destroyed Flight 2120

Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 was a devastating aviation disaster that began with a seemingly minor maintenance issue. On the runway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the aircraft’s underinflated tires overheated during a long taxi in extreme heat. The tires eventually burst and caught fire during takeoff. When the pilots retracted the landing gear, the burning rubber was pulled into the wheel well, where the fire damaged hydraulic lines and electrical wiring before spreading into the passenger cabin. The crew desperately attempted to return to the airport, but the intense fire severely compromised the aircraft, causing it to crash and killing all 261 people on board. The investigation uncovered a much deeper problem: maintenance records had been falsified to conceal the dangerously low tire pressure. What began as a preventable maintenance failure ultimately exposed a culture in which keeping flights on schedule was placed above basic safety. The disaster prompted changes to tire-maintenance procedures and the introduction of additional safety measures designed to detect and contain wheel-well fires. You can listen and download our episodes for free on more than 10 different platforms: https://linktr.ee/Air_Crash_Chronicles Produced by Podcai Studio: https://www.podcaistudio.com/