Five years after Dana plane crash that killed 153 passengers and crew in a Lagos suburb of Iju-Ishaga, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) yesterday released the final report of the accident, explaining how the pilot’s error triggered the crash regarded as the worst air crash in Nigeria. Three other accident reports were also released.
The report on Dana crash showed how the pilot of the ill-fated crash, an American, Capt. Peter Waxton crashed the MD- 83 aircraft on four buildings, two minutes before the aircraft was expected to land at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
The ill-fated Dana flight occurred on June 3, 2012. According to the report read by the Commissioner, AIB, Akin Olateru, an aeronautical engineer, the pilot of the ill-fated Dana flight’s inappropriate omission of the use of the checklist and the crew’s inability to appreciate the severity of the power-related problem, and their subsequent failure to land at the nearest suitable airfield, led to the crash of 153 souls on-board and another 10 on land.
The Lagos-bound aircraft from Abuja with registration number 5NRAM, had left the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja on a sunny afternoon, but crashed into a two-storey building at Iju-Ishaga, at the outskirts of Lagos, barely five minutes to the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.
Olateru disclosed that one of the two engines of the aircraft, “engine number one lost power 17 minutes into the flight, and thereafter on final approach, engine number two lost power and failed to respond to throttle movement on demand for increased
power to sustain the aircraft in its flight configuration.”
He added that lack of situation awareness, inappropriate decision making, and poor airmanship by the pilot led to the death of all on-board.
The report stated that the Dana crash could have been avoided if the pilot had performed professionally as expected of him, recalling that AIB, in its preliminary reports, had made eight safety recommendations, which were published at different times.
He added: “The safety recommendations previously made in the preliminary report published on 5th September, 2012 were four in number wherein three were targeted to Dana Airlines and all were accepted and closed.
"One was to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), accepted and closed.
There were four safety recommendations made in the published reports; one of which is to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) targeting Pratt & Whitney, the engine manufacturer.
“One to Dana Airlines; one to NCAA (with three safety recommendations in one) and one to the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) on quality assurance management.”
He explained that AIB was notified of the accident in the evening of the same day and immediately dispatched investigators to the crash site the following morning, adding that the international stakeholders were notified of the accident, but without accredited representative in the investigation.
The other report was on OAS Helicopters (Nig.) Limited, which sad accident occurred at Oke-Oba Hill, Ikonifin, Osun State, on July 29, 2011.
The other reports were those of Bristow Helicopters that crashed in 2013 inside the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
The final report released was that involving Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Safety and Security with the registration number 5N-BKS, which occurred at Benin Airport, Edo State on July 15, 2012.
The commissioner recalled that the helicopter belonging to OAS, with registration 5N-BKA, had departed OAS helipad, Maryland, Lagos at 09:25hrs for Ilorin and had its initial contact with Ibadan at 09:39hrs. The pilot checked abeam Ibadan (west) at 09:50hrs and requested to climb to 1,500ft on QNH 1014hPa, which was granted.
He added: “At 10:01hrs, Ibadan Control Tower called the pilot to confirm if he had two-way contact with Ilorin Control Tower. There was no reply from the aircraft. The controller reported to the Airspace Manager that somebody called the airport fire service that she heard a ‘bang’ somewhere around Ife Odan.
“The caller confirmed the bang and the likelihood of an accident when she was called back, consequent upon which the airspace manager directed the controller to get in touch with Ilorin, Lagos and other neighbouring states and subsequently initiated a search and rescue operation.”
AIB, in its investigation and the cause of the crash, said that the pilot did not adhere to Visual Flight Rules of clear-of cloud and obstacles while maintaining ground contact at all times and this led to Controlled Flight into Terrain.
AIB, in the report, insisted that the pilot of the helicopter was not instrument rated and lacked route familiarisation, being a foreigner.
The AIB, in its report, also released the serious incident involving Bristow Helicopters’ Sikorsky S-92 with registration number 5N-BOA at MMA, Lagos on February 27, 2013. Olateru said that the effectivity of the aircraft was excluded in the Alert Service Bulletin ASB No. 92-20-002A issued by the manufacturer.
Also, the Technical Directive (TD)-S92A-29-99 did not include Check/Inspection of the right hand side of the Upper Deck. The AIB Commissioner, however, lamented that the entire yearly budget of the parastatal is less than N2 billion.
He said that a paltry N16 million is budgeted for the agency for accident investigation. Olateru said he had informed the Minister of Transportation over the issue, adding that he has promised to look into the matter with a view to rectifying the problem. Meanwhile, the management of Dana Air said it swung into action immediately the crash interim report was released shortly after the accident.
“We wish to also state that Dana Air swung into action immediately the Interim Safety Recommendations were released in 2013 and, as an airline strictly committed to the safety and comfort of its guests, we implemented all the recommendations same year, as released by AIB.
“We did not stop at just implementing the recommendations; we also successfully passed an operational audit conducted by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s Flight Safety Group and its foreign partners.
“While we acknowledge the full report, and will continue to review it, we are glad that the report confirmed that the aircraft was airworthy at the time of departure, flight crew were certified and that we have cleared all defects during their last check,” the airline stated in a statement. The airline noted that the safety and comfort of their passengers remains a top priority.
New Telegraph
