The United States government may consider sending military experts to help with the location of the missing Beechcraft 19900D plane.
The Empowered Newswire, a US-based Nigerian news agency, reported that the development followed the US� receipt of a request from the Federal Government to help in locating the missing plane.
Speaking with Empowered, a top US Aviation official in the Africa Region section of the US Department of Transportation, DOT, Kevin Sample, confirmed that the American government had received the request from Nigeria over a week ago, adding that the US is now processing it.
But Sample added that the Federal Aviation Authority of the US, which manages the civil aviation in the US under the US DOT, does not handle location of missing planes.
He said, �I don�t know how the US will respond now but the military can help.�
He said that even though a request had been made by Nigeria, the US is yet to make a formal response, saying that the US was trying to figure out how best to respond and provide assistance to Nigeria on the missing plane.
Sample further said just like the FAA in the US is not in charge of such issues like missing planes, it ought not to be the responsibility of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority to locate a missing plane.
He added that criticism of the NCAA on the matter might have been due to a misunderstanding of the role of a civil aviation authority, which normally handles issues of safety.
Asked if the current episode of the missing plane might affect Nigeria�s ongoing quest to improve its aviation industry, especially in the area of international regulation, the US official answered in the negative.
He said, �We have seen more progress in Nigeria�s aviation in the last two years more in the previous seven years.�
He also said that even in the US, there were cases of missing aircrafts.
According to the US Transportation official, �last summer an aircraft flew out of Nevada, and we have not find it yet.�
He said Nevada is a very remote mountainous region just like the area where the missing Wings Aviation plane was reportedly flying over near Obudu ranch.
He noted that tracking planes in such area was normally difficult.�