Nigerian passenger jet crashes.

From the Aviation Herald…

On Jun 5th the airline stated that the aircraft had been in good condition and thus contradicted claims in Nigerian press suggesting the aircraft was not airworthy and was doing its first flight following repairs forced out of repair early by pressure of airline management. The airline explained that the aircraft was flying its regular schedule to Ibadan without any problems on Jun 2nd and on Jun 3rd flew flights 9J-999 Lagos-Abuja, 9J-998 Abuja-Lagos and 9J-993 Lagos-Abuja without any incidents prior to the illfated flight 9J-992. Later Jun 5th the airline added the captain had a total flying experience of 18,500 hours, thereof 7,100 hours on the MD-83, the first officer had a flying experience of 1,110 hours total and 800 hours on type. The aircraft had accumulated more than 35,000 cycles and 60,000 flight hours, its last A-check was completed on May 30th 2012 with the next C-check required until September 2012, the aircraft was in possession of a valid certificate of airworthiness following the previous C-check. Both black boxes have been recovered and are in possession of Nigeria’s AIB.

On Jun 7th airline officials said, that the crew was in contact with Lagos Radar when the crew reported engine trouble. They were subsequently handed off to Lagos Tower but did not report on Lagos Tower frequency anymore, two minutes after reporting the engine failure the aircraft disappeared from radar.

On Jun 10th 2012 Dana Air’s Director of Flight reported on Lagos’ TV, that the remains of one or more birds have been found in one of the engines recovered from the crash site. However, the cause of the crash is still to be determined.

BTW the captain was an American apparently.

It’s almost as if the Nigerian authorities do not wish to risk revealing another, more accurate cause of the disaster, whatever that turns out to be.

Agreed, it’s almost like the Nigerian authorities are blaming the aircraft for daring to crash without looking into the reasons behind it. Crazy.

It does nothing to improve safety in the slightest.

I agree with you all guys.

Such a move to ban MD-80s would be a perfect example for me (and a verdict) for the inability of the Nigerian Aviation Authority to enhance safety. There is absolutely no connection between the MD-80 and the lack of safety in Nigeria or the relatively high number of accidents and incidents in Nigeria. A well-maintained MD-80 (or any other aircraft) and at the same time a stringent oversight of flight ops, training, regulations, maintenance etc. would infact enhance the safety-standards much better – not the ban of an aircraft that was involved in an accident.

Regards!

So they haven’t even identified the cause but are blaming the aircraft? It seems to me that an airline with just five (well four now) aircraft might be doing some pencil maintenance to save on costs?

It seems that Dana Air have also been grounded (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18330586) until they pass a re-certification check. It also seems that Dana Air only have MD-80’s so even if they pass the check they won’t be able to fly…….

They did this in Gabon a few years ago when a HS748 crashed into the sea, and then again last year when an Antonov 26 crashed into the sea. They impose blanket bans without concrete foundation whenever the operator is not a parastatal. When Air Gabon 737 overran the runway, crashed through the ILS and perimeter wall destroying the aircraft, no such ban came about even though the cause was faulty maintenance and crew error.

I love the kneejerk reaction. A single plane from a specific model crashes, and the whole lot get banned.

It does nothing to improve safety in the slightest.

There are plans in Nigeria to ban MD-80-aircraft as a result of the crash.

Regards

That happened also with the BAC 1-11, after an incident in 2002 all 1-11s were banned from Nigerian airspace. You still can find quite a lot of 1-11s standing in a corner of the airfield were they were when the ban started.

IIRC there is also a regulation that aircrafts flying in Nigeria should not be older that 22 years. Anyone knows more about that?

Regards,

Mathieu.

The Nigerian Aviation Authority revoked the AOC of Dana Air.
The death toll reached more than 220 victims. It is by far the most deadliest MD-80-crash.

There are plans in Nigeria to ban MD-80-aircraft as a result of the crash.

Regards

Sad news. R.I.P. all.

Advisory: 27vet‘s link contains a photo of some of the victims.
View with caution.

Sorry I didn’t look that closely. No further information from this side of the world other than to confirm what Bmused55 posted.

Recent reports indicate the pilots may have radioed that both engines were inop.

Hi,

Is sounds a bit strange, but also in Nigeria flying is the safest ( hope I spell it right) way of traveling

Good God. What must the roads be like, then?

Seriously, though, even in areas of the world prone to aviation accidents, most flying goes off without incident and it is probably true to say that flying in less than ideal conditions brings out the best flying ability in pilots in much the same way as teaching in difficult schools requires higher standards than teaching in easier ones.

That said, I’d probably need a good dose of brave pills to take to the air either in Africa or Russia.

RIP to all souls lost and condolences to those bereaved

RIP to all souls lost and condolences to those bereaved.

As always a tragedy is greatly magnified when one sees in the media the anguish on the faces of all those bereaved especially those children who have been orphaned so abruptly.

I’ve read that the flight crew reported engine trouble to the tower before going down.

Rob

Sad news. R.I.P. all.

Advisory: 27vet‘s link contains a photo of some of the victims.
View with caution.

I think the two regions of the world in which I would never fly domestic airlines are Africa and Russia. The air safety records are truly shocking – Africa especially.

Hi,

I have been flying a lot in Nigeria, we normaly used Aero contractors. This company has a realy good safety record, in 62 years of operation “only” 2 people died while flying with this company. A few years ago a new company was started named Arik Air which seems to have a good safety system in operation. Is sounds a bit strange, but also in Nigeria flying is the safest ( hope I spell it right) way of traveling even when using one of the other domestic airliners.

Regards,

Mathieu.

Sometimes, It’ll even bring down the big ones.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19770527-0

RIP all :(:( Truly bad news.

I think the two regions of the world in which I would never fly domestic airlines are Africa and Russia. The air safety records are truly shocking – Africa especially.

ASN ACCIDENT DIGEST
Date: 03 JUN 2012
Time: ca 16:00
Type: McDonnell Douglas MD-83
Operator: Dana Air
Registration: 5N-RAM
C/n / msn: 53019/1783
First flight: 1990
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219
Crew: Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Passengers: Fatalities: 147 / Occupants: 147
Total: Fatalities: 153 / Occupants: 153
Ground fatalities: 10
Airplane damage: Destroyed
Location: near Lagos-Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS) (Nigeria)
Phase: Approach
Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Abuja International Airport (ABV)
Destination airport: Lagos-Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS)
Flightnumber: 992
A McDonnell Douglas MD-83 passenger plane operated by Dana Air was destroyed when it crashed into a residential area of Lagos, Nigeria. There were no survivors. The Lagos state government said in a statement that 153 people were on the flight. At least ten people were reported killed on the ground. The airplane had taken off from Abuja (ABV) on a domestic flight to Lagos (LOS), probably flight number 9J-992. On approach to Lagos it clipped a power line and crashed into a two-story building in the Iju area of Lagos. The Iju neighbourhood is located north of the airport on the runway 18L extended centreline (for landing). The accident is said to have occurred near Toyin Street, which is located some 1500-2000m to the left of the runway 18L threshold. Local aviation sources indicate the the plane involved was 5N-RAM. Weather reported about at 15:00 UTC (16:00 local time): DNMM 031500Z 19007KT 140V230 9999 SCT014 30/23 Q1013 NOSIG Wind 190 degrees at 7 knots; winds varying between 140 and 230 degrees; Visibility 10+ km; Scatter clouds at 1400 feet; Temperature 30°C, Dew point 23°C; pressure 1013 mb.

AIRCRAFT HISTORY

N944AS – Alaska Airlines (13 NOV 1990) delivered
N944AS – Alaska Airlines (04 NOV 2002) emergency diversion due to smoke and electrical smell in cabin; light ballast had overheated (FAA)
N944AS – Alaska Airlines (20 AUG 2006) evacuated after landing at Long Beach, CA when a chaffed wire bundle arced and produced smoke in the cabin area (NTSB)
N944AS – Alaska Airlines (21 AUG 2008) stored at Victorville
N944AS – Alaska Airlines (11 SEP 2008) maintenance at Miami
5N-RAM – Dana Air (17 FEB 2009) delivered
5N-RAM – Dana Air (19 APR 2010) emergency landing following loss of engine power after bird strike on takeoff Lagos (ASN)