Nigeria

  • | | | | |

    NTSB Investigation Arrives in Lagos


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Peter Tonna

    What: Dana Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 en route from Abuja to Lagos, Nigeria
    Where: Iju neighborhood, Lagos
    When: June 3, 2012
    Who: 153 passengers
    Why: The plane crashed after experiencing failure in both engines.

    The black boxes were sent last week to the US, and now the US has sent US National Transportation Safety Board investigators to assist Nigeria’s AIB in the investigation.

    According to Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, prior to the accident, there had been complaints of Dana Air and he had warned them to maintain or suspend flights and to check its fleet.

    The NTSB published the following release:
    The NTSB is dispatching an investigator to assist the government of Nigeria in its investigation of the crash of a Dana Air Boeing MD-83 airplane, Flight # 0992.

    On June 3, 2012 at about 11:51 a.m. local time, the airplane, en route from Abuja to Lagos Nigeria, crashed outside the airport into a two story building. All 153 passengers and crew onboard were fatally injured, and an undetermined number of ground fatalities and injuries also occurred.

    As the state of design and manufacture of the Boeing MD-83, the NTSB has designated Senior Aviation Accident Investigator, Mr. Dennis Jones, as the traveling U.S. Accredited Representative. Mr. Jones will be assisted from NTSB headquarters by investigative staff specializing in operational factors, powerplants, and airworthiness as well as advisors from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Boeing, and Pratt & Whitney.

    The investigation is being conducted by the Nigerian Accident Investigation Bureau, which will release all information.

    Questions follow Dana Air
    Dana Air Semantic Wars
    Husband Files Dana Air Flight 992 Lawsuit
    Dana Air’s license Suspended
    Witnesses of the Dana Air Crash Recount What they Saw
    First Report of Dana Air Crash in Lagos
    IDENTIFICATION
    Regis#: DANA992 Make/Model: MD80 Description: MD-81/82/83/87/88
    Date: 06/03/2012 Time: 1530

    Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N
    Damage: Destroyed

    LOCATION

    DESCRIPTION
    DANA AIR FLIGHT 992 BOEING MCDONNELL DOUGLAS MD83 AIRCRAFT CRASHED INTO A 2-STORY BUILDING IN A RESIDENTIAL AREA,153 PERSONS ON BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED, UNKNOWN GROUND INJURIES, LAGOS, NIGERIA

    INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 153
    # Crew: 6 Fat: 6
    # Pass: 147 Fat: 147

    OTHER DATA
    Activity: Business Phase: Unknown Operation: Air Carrier

  • | | | | |

    Questions follow Dana Air


    After a crash, the stories always come out that put faces on the “seats.” The one that has, so far, struck me the most in the Dana Air crash is a tale of mixed blessings.

    First Omonigho Akinsanya had come to visit, and now she was waiting in the crowded, overheated Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to catch a plane to take her home. She, with her 5-year-old son Moyo, and her sister had been waiting in line, trying to travel back home.

    The airport, which is undergoing renovations is reportedly hot and crowded, and Omonigho Akinsanya had her son to manage. She was understandably upset when a man broke in line and took the last seat in the crowded airplane that her sister had already boarded.

    His breaking in line saved her life. But she cannot rejoice in the luck, fortune, Karma, coincidence that left her alive. Her sister was one of the victims.

    This is her sister’s sad story, and her own too, because it is a terrible loss and a close call. But it is only one of 153+ losses (not forgetting the families on the ground who were minding their own business in their own apartments when a plane fell on their heads.)

    It is hard to sift rumor from fact. One rumor is that the flight had been diverted or delayed due to Dame Patience Jonathan, the first lady, but that rumor has been discounted; she was at an event on Sunday when the crash occurred, and nowhere near the airport. There was a rumor of a bird strike, stemming from an official speculating on the cause. And then of course, everyone is studying the plane’s history, and wondering if it was airworthy.

    The MD-83 belonged to Alaska Airlines from 1990 when it was new until 2007, when the plane’s title went to North Shore Aircraft LLC (probably the financier) and leased back for a year. Before it was retired in 2008, it had gone through a diversion on Nov 4 2002 due to an overheated light ballast; on August 20, 2006 due to a “chafed wire bundle.” And as Dana Air 5N-RAM it suffered a bird strike on April 19, 2010.

    The pilot, Peter Waxtan, was an American, and the first officer was Mike Mahendra, from India. Captain Waxton called a double engine failure. The pilot had requested to land on Murtala Muhammad Airport’s longer runway 18R before calling air controllers back a few minutes later to report a total emergency.

    There has been some negative buzz regarding maintenance of this MD83 in the hands of Dana Air, and a recent discussion of Dana Air crew being reluctant to fly in this plane, due to mechanical difficulties on a recent flight, even that Dana Air execs insisted the plane be flown. Plus, it was overloaded.

    It is still so soon after the crash that we hardly know which questions to ask first. There are so many questions. But if Dana Air was putting faulty aircraft in the air, they will have to answer for it. Too bad it will be too late for those who were aboard.

  • | | | | | |

    Husband Files Dana Air Flight 992 Lawsuit


    Joy Chiedozie Allison died on Dana Air Flight 992. Her family has hired attorney Gary Robb. On June 7 (yesterday) Robb filed a 56 page lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Chicago, a discovery motion naming The Boeing Company, McDonnell Douglas Corporation, Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp., United Technologies Corporation and Estate of Peter Waxtan.

    In the Dana Airlines crash, both of the MD-83’s engines failed before it crashed into several buildings in Nigeria

    The chief engineer of Dana Air was also aboard the plane when it crashed. Employees of Dana airlines have said that owners were aware that the jet had mechanical troubles struggling on a Calabar flight;, but the crew was forced fly anyway, and fly it loaded to the hilt with passengers and luggage.

    Captain Oscar Wason is saying there may have been a bird strike. The black boxes have been recovered and will be sent to the US. The black boxes will have the truth.

    Joy Allison worked for Federal Express.

  • | |

    Dana Air’s license Suspended


    Dana Air’s operating license has been suspended after the crash of the Dana Air McDonnell Douglass jet in Lagos. According to reports, just prior to the crash, the pilot reported that both engines failed.

    According to Dana Air, the Dana Group is owned and registered in Nigeria. Only the managing director, Jacky Hathiramani is Indian.

    These items have also been released:

    • The first officer had flown 1,100 flight hours, 800 of which (were) on the MD83 aircraft.
    • The aircraft had flown over 60,000 flight hours
    • The last 400-hourly check was May 30, 2012. The statutory annual maintenance was not until Sept 2012.
    • The co=pilot was Mahendra Singh Rathore.
    • Eight Americans, six Chinese, two Lebanese, and one each from Canada, France, Germany, India and Indonesia were aboard. Seven of the eight Americans had dual nationality.
    • Lucky Fiakpa, of The National Insurance Commission said “NAICOM wishes to assure members of the public that the aircraft in question was properly insured and all reinsurance contracts were duly entered into. Seven local underwriters were involved in the business…it believes no amount of money is sufficient to compensate for loss of dear ones…and all the same, will ensure that compensation as stated in the insurance contract between the airline and the underwriter was adequately paid to all beneficiaries of victims of the crash.”
    • Fatalities include a northern elder and a retired federal permanent secretary under General Yakubu Gowon and Murtala Muhammed’s government, Alhaji Ibrahim Damcida; the spokesman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Levi Ajuonuma; a director of Mainstreet Bank, Shehu Sa’ad; Ehimie Aikhomu, Professor Celestine Onwuliri, the husband of the minister of state for foreign affairs, Prof Viola Onwuliri and a family of seven.

    The Kolkata based family of the co-pilot has been promised the remains of Mahendra Singh Rathore will be returned to them after identification through DNA testing which may take a week. He leaves a wife and seven year old son. The family is waiting in Bikaner for the remains.

    The Dana Air website finally posted a release regarding the accident:

    The Dana Air family is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of the passengers and crew of Flight 9J-992 of Sunday, June 3, 2012. The aircraft, with Registration Number 5N-RAM, departed Abuja for Lagos with 146 passengers onboard. 1 Dana Air Flight Engineer, 2 Pilots and 4 Cabin Crew were also aboard the flight.

    We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the deceased, and we are doing everything we can to assist them in this extremely difficult time. A 24hr Call Centre service has been initiated and we have also set up an information center at MMA2 to look after their needs and keep them as quickly informed as possible.

    An investigation into the cause of the accident got under way immediately, under the guidance of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), who are being assisted by investigators from the U.S. National Safety Transportation Board (NTSB). Dana Air is cooperating fully and assisting the investigation in every possible way.

    In accordance with international protocol governing aviation accident investigations, all information about the investigation will come from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. Dana Air will however provide information relating to the flight itself and updates on steps being taken.

    Once again, we at Dana Air extend our profoundest condolences.

    Jacky Hathiramani

    Chief Executive Officer

  • | | | | | | |

    Witnesses of the Dana Air Crash Recount What they Saw


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Ken Iwelumo

    update
    The Dana Air flight crashed into a suburb of Lagos on Sunday. All 153 people on board and an unknown number of residents on the ground were killed in the crash.

    Witnesses below talk about what they saw.

    Using cadaver dogs and cranes, emergency crews recovered 48 bodies. Local residents helped with spraying water on the fire, but after three hours, there was apparently no water to put it out.

    Passengers aboard the plane included four Chinese citizens, and two Lebanese citizens (identified as Nadim Chediac and Roger Awwad.) The pilot was reported to be American, and the co-pilot Indian.

  • | | | | | |

    First Report of Dana Air Crash in Lagos


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Peter Tonna

    http://www.cknnigeria.com/2012/06/exclusive-pictures-of-crashed-dana-air.html?m=1

    What: Dana Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 en route from Abuja to Lagos, Nigeria
    Where: Iju neighborhood, Lagos
    When: June 3, 2012
    Who: 153 passengers
    Why: Weather was clear. The Dana Air flight experienced engine trouble first in one engine, then the other and was nearing to the airport when it apparently struck a cable and crashed into a residential area less than four miles from the airport. There are no survivors.

    Pilots already flying on one engine had slowed, then the second engine failed.

    The number of people aboard is not definite as it is not reflected in the flight manifest. Apparently some paper-ticketed passengers are not recorded on computer records, and the passenger manifest is in the process of being double-checked.

    The plane had refueled which contributed to a massive fire. The number of casualties in the furniture store/workshop and apartment building that were struck is unknown.

    The Nigerian Red Cross, Nigeria’s air crash safety investigators,2 firetrucks and 50 rescue personnel arrived on the scene. A number of charred remains have been recovered.

    Local residents report hearing a loud explosion that sounded like a bomb.

    Photos of the disaster site show people wandering around the wreckage, with the site not secured.


  • | | | |

    Nigerian Peace Keeper Chopper Crash Kills 12


    What: Nigerian Police Special Task Force Bell 412EP en route to to Abuja
    Where: Jenta Mangoro, Nigeria
    When: March 14, 2012, 11:00 a.m.
    Who: 7 fatalities aboard, 5 ground fatalities
    Why: While on a mission to monitor a crisis situation, the chopper crashed. The crash also killed 5 on the ground in the vicinity of a satellite market and a Government Secondary School along Rukuba Road. Reports say that the wreckage landed inside a residence. A nine year old girl in the house was injured. The owner of the house, Mali Waziri, was at work at the time of the accident.

    Witnesses say that the chopper made strange noises before it lost height and crashed.

    The mission was described as “surveillance duty in hot spot.”

    Haruna John, recently Deputy Inspector General of Police, died in the crash, as well as his orderly and other members of the peace team. ACP Garba Yelwa -Pilot; CSP Alexander Pwol-Ja, Co-Pilot and Sergeant Sonatian Shirunam-Orderly were also fatalities.

  • | | | |

    Nigeria working toward ICAO Standard

    Long known for substandard aviation, changes seem to be in Nigeria’s future.

    Nigeria’s airports are slated to be revamped to meet international standards according to Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation. Safety and security are intended to be the new priority, as they aim for “zero” accidents.

    Infrastructure and services are also slated to be improved.

    The ICAO’s AFI plan is part of the Third Pan-African Aviation Training Coordination Conference.

    The conference is organized by the ICAO Comprehensive Regional Implementation Plan for Aviation Safety in Africa (AFI Plan) in cooperation with the aviation regional organizations in the AFI Region, and hosted by the Government of South Africa will be held in Cape Town, South Africa from 27 to 29 July 2011.

    The agenda for the conference is here.

  • | | | | | |

    Nigeria: Arik Air 737 Bird Strike

    What: Arik Air Boeing 737-700 en route from Owerri to Lagos
    Where: Owerri Nigeria
    When: May 8th 2011
    Who: 69 passengers
    Why: While en route, the plane incurred a bird strike. The bird was ingested in an engine. The flight continued until there were severe vibrations on the right side of the plane (where the strike occurred).

    Passengers aboard the flight said they experienced five minutes of terror (that lasted forever) as the right side of the plane was vibrating. Presumably pilots shut down that engine after five minutes.

    The pilots made a safe landing in Lagos.

  • | |

    Nigeria Airports Audited for Safety

    The ICAO audit for Nigeria comes up in May (a whole lot of initials here — NAMA (Nigerian Airspace Management Agency), NCAA, FAAN, NCAT (Nigerian College of Aviation Technology), NIMET (Nigerian Meteorological Agency), and AIB (Accident Investigation Bureau)— and before all of that, the US American Transportation Security Administration (ATSA) is in phase two of auditing Nigerian airports.

    Arik Air, United Airlines, and Delta Airlines will be audited for safety as well, as they are the three carriers which fly to the US. Now that Nigeria has Category “ONE” status and can fly to the US, the FAA will continue strict safety auditing in order to maintain that safety status.

    In Montreal, Canada from 24-26 May 2011., the ICAO will be hosting an Enhancing Runway Safety symposium. The official event sponsors are Airbus, Airports Council International (ACI) and Boeing. In April of 2010, the ACI World Director General, declared support for the African States such as Nigeria who adopted the Abuja Declaration, which demonstrates the determination of African nations to contribute to the development of a new global aviation security strategy.

    Great press, but what happens next? Africa has a long way to go to establish true aviation safety standards.

  • | | | |

    Nigerian Goats Invade Runway


    photo: Pictured a Hawker Sidley HS 125
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Giovanni Verbeeck

    What: King’s Aviation Hawker Sidley HS 125 registration 5N-BNR
    Where: Bauchi Airport, Nigeria
    When: 08 MARCH 2011
    Who: Nuhu Ribadu, presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria
    Why: On landing at the airport, the plane struck goats on the runway.

    The plane owned by Wings Aviation incurred some damage. No one aboard the flight was injured, but the director of media and publicity of the Nuhu Ribadu Campaign Organisation is calling the invasion of goats on the runway a sign of sabotage.



    Microsoft clip art image

  • | | | | | | |

    Chaos on Aero Contractors in Lagos


    Not the 500. Pictured: Boeing 737-322 exAero Contractors Nigeria lease
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer JayDeeKay

    What: Aero Contractors Boeing 737-500 en route from Port Harcourt to Lagos
    Where: Nigeria
    When: Oct 24 2010
    Who: 84 passengers, 15 injuries
    Why: Passengers were complaining of pressure problems resulting in ear pain. Passengers reportedly “ran amuck” in the cabin when they saw smoke, apparently resulting in injury.

    Officially, ten minutes before arrival in Lagos, a smoke problem in the cabin was reported to ATC. The crew reported the smoke, and made a safe landing at Murtala Muhammed International Airport with emergency on standby at 6:30 pm. Passengers evacuated, resulting in fifteen injuries. Passenger’s luggage was not released until 8:30 pm

    According to maintenance, the smoke problem was mist and condensation from the air conditioning which had been switched to manual.

  • | | | |

    Aero Emergency Pandemonium Causes Evacuation Injuries

    What: Aero B737-500 en route from Yenagoa to Abuja
    Where: Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos, Nigeria
    When: Oct 24 2010
    Who: 84 passengers
    Why: On approach to lagos, the plane made a reportedly “terrifying” noise and began emitting smoke in the cabin. The pilot managed the landing and directed the crew to assist with evacuations. The passengers panicked, causing a number of injuries as they jumped out of the emergency exits.

  • | | |

    Stowaway Threatens Safety Rating


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Ken Iwelumo – Global Aviation Images

    What: Arik Air Airbus A330-200 en route from Johannesburg South Africa to Lagos Nigeria
    Where: Lagos
    When: Sep 20th 2010
    Who: 1 stowaway
    Why: The body of a young Nigerian man was found in the wheelwell. How the stowaway accessed the airport and the aircraft is a mystery. There is inadequate oxygen in the compartment to survive. Due to the quick turnaround there, the body was not discovered in Johannesburg.

    The carrier fears the incident will cause the airline to lose its recent Category 1 safety status US rating.

  • | |

    Arik Air Undergoing Re-Certification

    Arik Chairman, Sir Joseph Arumemi Ikhide has announced that their airline is successfully going through the certification process. “Although the journey was long, tedious, hard and expensive, it was worth it.”

    Striving to meet the global standards of the ICAO and TSA, Arik Air has also been re-certified by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Six of eight US FAA criteria have been satisfied. Arik Air must satisfy a preliminary (mock) audit by the FAA prior to moving on to the final steps of certification.

  • | | | |

    Nigerian Helicopter Crash Kills 4


    Pictured: A South Africa – Air Force Agusta A-109E LUH. (Photo of Nigerian Navy Agusta not available)
    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Jacobus Saayman

    What: Nigerian Navy Agusta A109E Reconnaissance helicopter en route from Port Harcourt to Lago
    Where: Mmiri Ochiochi swams, in Obodo Isiokpo, Port Harcourt Nigeria
    When: Jan 26, 2010
    Who: 4 Fatalities
    Why: While en route from Warri via Brass to Port Harcourt, the helicopter crashed into a swampy area about 2 minutes flying time from Port Harcourt International Airport. Apparently naval officers on the scene prevented locals and reporters from taking photographs.

    The helicopter went into a spin, and emitted a bang before crashing. Locals on the scene used a machete to hack through a door to retrieve passengers in a rescue effort.

  • |

    Repeated Fume Emergency over Nigeria

    What: Boeing 777 flight BA 82, en route London from the Nigerian capital
    Where: Nigeria
    When: Sat Jan 24
    Who: 155 passengers and 14 crew
    Why: Smoke had first been detected in the cockpit early on Saturday and the problem was supposedly fixed. An hour into the flight, pilots detected fumes /smoke in the cockpit., they requested the emergency landing in Kano. Passengers were promised a speedy replacement flight, and the 777 underwent another inspection.

    The Nigerian media reported that one of the engines was in flames.