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Tag: Dana Air crash

  • Expert faults Dana Air crash report

    Expert faults Dana Air crash report

    An aeronautical engineer, Group Capt. John Obakpolor (rtd), has dismissed the Dana Air crash report released by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), saying it was empty.

    “That report is empty. All it just said was general; all it read was a prose. It is not a report coming out of an investigation,” Obakpolor said.

    According to him, it is public knowledge that the aircraft crashed because of engine failure. Therefore, what the investigation and its report should have focused on was what transpired between the time the pilot made contact with the Lagos airport control tower for clearance to land on runway18R and the time it crashed.

    ‘’That is where the investigation should have started from. The report should have told us why the engine failed, and what made the engine to fail. All the report just told us was that as a result of engine failure the aircraft just crashed. This is totally unacceptable in standard aviation investigation report,” an obviously enraged Obakpolor told The Nation in Lagos at the weekend.

    Although it was said that the Flight Data Recorder was not retrieved from the crash site, the Cockpit Voice Recorder was found. This, he noted, could have been used by the investigators to probe into what happened between the time the pilot got clearance to land on runway 18R and the time the aircraft crashed.

    As the chairman of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry into the Dana Air crash, Obakpolor said his panel never had access to the aircraft’s log book, which he said would have been made available to the investigators. Therefore, he argued, with the log book, the AIB investigators should be able to know the state of the aircraft engine in terms of its maintenance record.

    He asked: “The log book of the aircraft did not crash, so it would have been useful to tell the investigators more. The aircraft engineer was on board the flight to Abuja and also dispatched it to Lagos, So, if the engine had issues the engineer would have known, and if he knew, did he report it upon arrival in Abuja before the ill-fated flight?”

    One area Obakpolor, however, agreed with in the report was where it was mentioned passively that the accident occurred due to “bad airmanship.”

    This reason, he said, could even have caused the engine to fail. But the report never said something like “the engines were mis handled; just due to engine failure.” This position, the retired AirForce man argued, is vague and devoid of any lessons to be learnt from it.

    He said this was unlike the report submitted by his Administrative Panel, which noted that the pilot should not have been scheduled to operate the flight because he had a flight to catch that night to go out of the country for issues relating to his licence.

    “So he must fly out that night. So for him, anything that would disrupt him flying out of Nigeria that day was not an option for him. This may explain why he did not make an air return to Abuja or to Minna or even Ibadan; so he must get to Lagos,” Obakpolor explained.

    This factor, he revealed, made the panel to submit that airlines should get psychologists involved in cabin crew roaster preparation. This will help them know the state of mind of their crew before any flight.

  • DANA Air crash report ready soon – AIB

    The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), has said that the final report of the Dana Air crash on  June 3,  2012, would be ready soon.

    Spokesman for the Bureau, Tunji Oketunbi, however, said  an interim statement on the investigations  into the crash has been published on its website.

    He said the draft final report was sent to relevant stakeholders for comments and suggestions as required by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 13 chapter 6.3.

    Oketumbi said efforts at resolving and harmonising the issues raised by the stakeholders’ comments and suggestions  delayed the release of the report.

    He said :”The issues raised by the stakeholders, which required further scientific testing have almost completely been addressed and the final report will be made public very soon.”

    On June 3,  2012 at about 15 ;45 hours a Boeing MD 83 aircraft, 5N- RAM operated by Dana Airlines on scheduled domestic flight crashed into Iju-Ishaga, a densely populated area on the outskirts of Lagos, following a loss of power on both engines while on approach to Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos, Nigeria.

  • Why report on Dana air crash is unavailable – AIB

    The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) on Friday explained why it is yet to release to the public final draft report on the 2012 Dana Air crash.

    The accident occurred on June 3, 2012 when the aircraft lost its two engines mid-air.

    The agency issued another interim statement on the accident to mark its fourth anniversary on Friday.

    The Dana Air aircraft MD 83 with the registration number 5N-RAM-had departed Abuja to Lagos but crashed few minutes to the Lagos Airport.

    Up till now, the probable cause of the accident has not been confirmed because AIB is yet to publish its findings.

    The spokesman of the bureau, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi, in the statement said the draft final report had been sent to relevant stakeholders for comments and suggestions as required by the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, Annex 13 chapter 6.3.

    He added that efforts at resolving and harmonising the issues raised by the stakeholders’ comments and suggestions had however delayed the release of the report.

    He said issues raised by the stakeholders, which required further scientific testing, had almost completely been addressed and the final report will be made public very soon.

  • Corruption responsible for Dana air crash, says group

    Corruption responsible for Dana air crash, says group

    •Protest to Lagos Assembly, calls for stiffer action

    A group, Nancy and Jennifer Ibe Centre for Public Accountability (NAJICPA) staged a peaceful protest to the Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday, calling on the lawmakers to engage more in the fight against corruption.

    Speaking on behalf of the group, a legal practitioner, Ikechukwu Ikeji, disclosed that the peaceful protest was to call on the Lagos State lawmakers to pass a message to the Federal Government on why corruption must be eliminated with immediate effect.

    According to Ikeji, “we are also staging this protest in favour of Nancy and Jennifer Ibe, who died in the Dana aircraft crash last year. We believe that this crash would not have happened if not for corruption, because the management of Dana was aware that the plane was faulty but they still allowed it to fly.

    “If somebody was not corrupt, that plane wouldn’t have taken off and those lives that were lost would have been saved. So, we have come to the Lagos State House of Assembly because you are against corruption. We want this House to help us pass the message to the higher authority that corruption must not just be curbed, but killed totally,” Ikeji added.

    Also speaking in the same vein, a member of the group who is also a lawyer, Justice Uhuegbu, called on the Federal Government to make corruption a capital offence, “else we won’t kill corruption. If a student is caught cheating in an examination, it is 21 years jail term, but those who are stealing billions are walking freely about town,” he said.

    Responding on behalf of the House, Chairman, House Committee on Information, Publicity, Security and Strategy, Segun Olulade applauded the group, saying the House identifies with their cause.

    According to Olulade, “you have come for a good cause and you are in the right place. Nancy and Jennifer would not have died if corruption had not eaten deep into our system. We want you to know that the state government is a responsive and responsible government and we care for safety of lives and property of the citizens.

    “We remain committed to the fight against corruption and we are determined to ensure that such disaster does not re-occur in the state. We will continue to do that which will be of benefit to the future of children,” Olulade assured.

    He, however, told the protesters that their message will be passed across to both his colleagues and the higher authority.

  • Dana Air crash: Senate seeks sack of NCAA DG, revocation of airline’s licence

    Dana Air crash: Senate seeks sack of NCAA DG, revocation of airline’s licence

    The Senate yesterday asked the Federal Government to sack the Director-General (DG) of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren.

    This followed the consideration of the report of its Committee on Aviation, which investigated the June 3, last year’s crash of Dana and Allied Airlines.

    The Dana Airline crash killed 153 passengers and crew members. Others around the scene of the crash also died.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodinma, presented the report of the Senate and House of Representatives Investigative Committee shortly before the Senate went for the Christmas break.

    The lawmakers said Demuren should be sacked for negligence of duty.

    Besides seeking the sack of the NCAA DG, the Senate also accepted a recommendation that Mr. Suleiman Akwuh, an engineer, who handled the pre-arrival inspection on the ill-fated Dana aircraft allegedly without prerequisite professional qualification should also be kicked out.

    The Senate said findings showed that Akwuh was not licensed and type-rated on MD83 Aircraft.

    It said Dana’s current Air Operating Certificate (AOC) should be revoked because it was not issued in full compliance with the NCAA regulations 2009.

    The lawmakers said: “The appointments of NCAA inspector, Suleiman Akwuh, who did pre-arrival inspection on the ill-fated Dana Aircraft without the prerequisite professional qualification and the Director-General of NCAA, who employed and deployed the officer should be terminated.”

    The staff strength of the NCAA, the Senate said, should be overhauled with a view to injecting technical and professional qualified personnel to enhance its regulatory role in accordance with international best practices.

    It also said henceforth, the management and operations of NCAA should remain autonomous to avoid undue interference by the Ministry of Aviation.

    The Senate said all air accident investigation reports should be made public.

    It said NCAA should compel all airlines involved in accidents to settle outstanding insurance obligations and ensure that current operating AOCs have a reliable insurance cover as required by the Civil Aviation Regulations.

    It said the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) should be equipped with modern laboratory facilities to enable it discharge its responsibilities, while the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) should be equipped with well-trained workers and equipment for the purpose of responding to air accidents in the country.

    The lawmakers urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to recover the N35.5 billion Aviation Intervention Fund, which was extended to Air Nigeria, guaranteed and disbursed by United Bank for Africa (UBA), but was allegedly diverted to other uses.

    They said the Federal Government should put in place a hangar of international standard through public private partnership (PPP) to reduce cost of aircraft maintenance by airline operators in Nigeria.

    The Senate added that the Air Field Lighting System should be returned to FAAN without further delay.

    It ignored the recommendation that the MD 83 aircraft should be phased out of the country pending further investigations, while the request that the Federal Government should create an incentive for indigenous airlines through special intervention fund was rejected.

    Also, the recommendation that an age limit of 15 years be placed for new acquisition for passenger aircraft and 20 years for cargo aircraft was rejected.

    The recommendation that NCAA should carry out a post-accident regulatory oversight on Allied Air immediately after the conclusion of investigation by Ghana Accident Investigation Department was ignored.

    On findings, the committee said: “Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) did not comply with the procedure for the issuance of Airlines Operators Certificate (AOC) to Dana Airlines as it is stipulated in NCAA 2009 Civil Aviation Regulations.

    “The NCAA inspector, Suleiman Akwuh, who inspected and cleared the ill-fated Dana crashed MD83 aircraft No. 5N-RAM is not licensed and type-rated on that aircraft.