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THE TRAGEDY OF THE DANA PLANE CRASH: WHEN WILL ALL THESE END?

Gabriel Uche Emeasoba (Rev. Fr)


After three days of Mourning, whats next? After three minutes of crying, whats next? After three hours of begging and pleading, whats next? After three months of investigation, whats next? The self generated disaster continues and those that are affected remain hopeless and helpless. The fear of the unknown.

This was how Olatokunbo Akinsanya, a general facebook applicant summarised his mind-bogging sentiments after reflecting on the unfortunate event of the DANA plane crash and the issues that have trailed that ill-fated event. Three weeks have gone since that day when the night interrupted the day and refused to be pushed away but the wounds still remain so fresh. The 3rd of June 2012 remains a day that will never be forgotten by many families in Nigeria, especially, the Onwuliris, the Anyenes, the Aikhomus, the Ayodejis, the Ochigbos, the Ulasis, the Ajuonuomas etc. On that day, Nigeria met with the worst and deadliest air disaster in more than two decades of her history, losing about 185 lives, including the whole of the cabin crew and a score of other innocent people on ground in a single day (not adding the ten people that died in the Ghana cargo plane crash on the same day). In a twinkle of an eye, in one supra-violent sweep, a former University Vice Chancellor, the son of a former Vice President of this country, an executive and spokesperson of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, unsuspecting foreigners including 7 Americans, 4 Chinese, 2 Lebanese, 1 Canadian and 1 French, and numerous beloved fellow citizens were utterly wasted. That event is simply better not recalled. After three weeks, the whole event appears to have been swallowed and forgotten. Like in other plane crashes, Nigerians have been promised that under the guidance of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority who will be assisted by investigators from the U.S National Safety Transportation Board, the cause/s of the accident will be duly investigated and those found responsible adequately punished. The President had in an official statement declared a three-day mourning immediately after the event, and later, the Federal Government formally withdrew the Operational license of the DANA airlines. The Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah has promised to oversee the crash investigations and the Executive of the Airline has been mandated to pay as much as 100 000 USD to the bereaved families. And so, suddenly, just like in the case of the subsidy brouhaha, everything now seems to be okay and everybody seems to have understood and is getting ready to forget yet again. The question is: for how long will all these continue? For how long will Nigerians be told to wait in

pain and endure? For how long will the loss of innocent lives on account of peoples carelessness, greed and corruption be allowed? What really happened on the 3rd June 2012? Around 3.43pm on that fateful Sunday afternoon, the DANA air McDonnell Douglas with the registration number MD-83 5NRAM performing flight 9J-992 from Abuja to Lagos (Nigeria) crashed into a residential building at Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos State 5-6 nautical miles from the airport and burst into flames, killing over 180 people both inside the cabin and on ground. Since then, there have been many opinions as to the cause of the crash. In the first case, it was gathered that shortly before the crash, 11 nautical miles from the airport, the pilot, Peter Waxton, an American from Florida radioed Lagos control tower and declared an emergency, saying that both of the Pratt and Whitney engines that hung just below the planes engine had failed. Minutes later, MD-83 lost altitude and crashed. On 4th June, Tunji Oketunbi of the Accident Investigation Bureau confirmed that the recovered flight data and cockpit voice recorders supported the theory of failed two engines. What could have been responsible for the engine failure of such a passenger jet? Professional experts have actually been divided on what could have caused such a jetliner to experience engine failure. Speculations centre on two possible technical causes: bird strike and lack of fuel. On the first reason, research has shown that bird strikes can be responsible for jet engine failures. According to the Aviation Safety Network, it was gathered that in 2010, the same DANA air jet lost an engine when several birds were ingested as it took off from Lagos airport causing the plane to make an emergency landing on April 19 2010. In fact, an operations officer of the airline told Channels Television that bird strike was also responsible for the June 3 DANA plane crash. But investigations point to the fact that that may not be the whole truth. On the second reason, there is a theory that an air plane can experience engine failure when it runs out of fuel. On this, an aerospace engineering professor, Ella Atkins of the University of Michigan wrote: if this happened on approach with insufficient altitude to glide to the runway, the plane would be forced to land somewhere on the approach path, and in a densely populated region, there may not be many choices. However, experts insist that running out of fuel is less common a cause for engine failures, especially for automated aircrafts. Professor Atkins revealed that a jet like MD-83 normally has a three person cockpit crew including a human flight engineer responsible for managing fuel. He even made it clear that newer two-crew aircrafts with advanced flight management systems continuously predict fuel use and expected reserve on landing based on real time fuel flow data and the flight plan. This makes it less likely for an automated aircraft to run out of

fuel before reaching its destination, especially when the distance to be covered is not far. Apart from bird strike and lack of fuel, there are other opinions regarding the possible causes of the DANA plane crash. Since the occurrence of that mishap, the public and the local media have been blaming the age of the jet as being responsible for the crash. For the records, the passenger jet 5R-RAM DANA MD-83 was manufactured in October 1990 and was 21.7 years as at the time of its destruction in the crash. It must be noted that technical evaluation from the aviation sector (Jetphotos.net) has shown that even though the Dana plane that crashed may not be the youngest aircraft, it was not too old to fly. A regular contributor to aviation discussion forums IberiaMD-87 was stressing this point when it wrote: 1990 is not too old. However, while the age of the jet may not be the ultimate problem with the passenger jet that crashed in Iju Ishaga, there is clear evidence that the aircraft may have been experiencing maintenance problems before the incident. The Operations department of the airline had revealed that few days before the crash, the jet had a test run from Lagos to Ibadan to check its airworthiness and was confirmed fit to fly. They had also denied accusations by the local media that it was the particular unfortunate jet that developed technical faults at Uyo two weeks before the crash. Despite these denials, there has been massive evidence from the media that the Dana airline has not told Nigerians the whole truth. Specifically, Saharareporters.com and Naijagists.com revealed that even the pilot of the jet was forced to fly the ill fated plane. The plane that left Lagos for Abuja was said to have gone down uncommonly at Calabar to receive some technical attention because it could not reach Abuja directly without maintenance. When eventually it got to Abuja, the greedy Indian owners of the plane, probably out of desire to maximise profit insisted on flying the jet to Lagos where it met its waterloo. What else is expected of a very rich greedy Indian family whose conglomerate sells everything from fruit juice to cars and whose fleet of five planes (all of them U.S made MD-83s) ply the Nigerian air route without much supervision? Who is claiming that the Dana plane was airworthy before the flight? A simple click on the internet on Dana Air MD-83 does not upload an interesting history. As a matter of fact, the information on net shows that Dana Air MD-83 was a disaster in the making. Unloaded by a U.S based Company, Alaska Airlines to the Indian owners in Nigeria, the plane had experienced numerous service failures since its manufacture in 1990. Below is the summarised problem history of the crashed jet, both in Alaska and in Nigeria, at least since 2002: IN ALASKA U.S.A

-On Nov. 4 2002- the aircraft developed faults and had to make an emergency diversion due to smoke in the cabin area. -On August 20, 2006-It was again evacuated after landing at the Long Beach, CA again due to smoke in the cabin area. During the post event airplane inspection, maintenance personnel found the wire bundle damaged in the mid-cargo pit ceiling at station 750 due to chafing and subsequent arcing of the Over wing Heater Blanket system. They also found that wires in some bundles were damaged to the point of disconnection/separation, while other wire bundles sustained thermal melting to their outer insulation jacket. -Concerned about potential risks to its airworthiness, Alaska Airlines parked the aircraft until Sept. 11 2008 to carry out maintenance on the plane. -On Feb. 2009, Alaska Airlines shifted the burden to Nigeria when it sold the ill-fated plane. PROBLEMS WITH THE PLANE IN NIGERIA BEFORE JUNE 3 2012 -On May 3 2012, a Lagos Station manager said the aircraft needed to be grounded for a check-up but that alarm was ignored. -On May 11, 2012, the same Lag/Abj aircraft had an air return and emergency landing at the MM2 airport. Passengers disembarked. -On May 25, 2012, the same plane abandoned it LA/Calabar flight, making another air return. Engine failure was reported. No casualties. Until one is aware of the above history, one would not adequately feel the pains of the loss we had on the 3rd of June. More than 180 innocent lives were lost in a day just because some people chose not to do their jobs; just because some people chose to be greedy and to maximize profit. The question one needs to ask is: does it mean that there are no longer any inspection before planes are allowed to fly in the Nigerian airspace? What then is the work of those in the Aviation sector? Today, we are talking of Dana airline, tomorrow, it may be another; Nigeria never takes anything serious until lives are lost. Even when lives are lost, investigations are politicised and culprits are covered. In the year 2005, there were more than five plane crashes within twelve months which claimed numerous lives. Who were ever punished? What was done to secure safety in air travels within the country after that incident? Recently, the former Minister of Aviation Fani Kayode in an interview with Vanguard Newspapers was claiming that when he came on board during the government of Obasanjo after the woes of 2005, he was like a saviour and that his effort was responsible for the absence of air accidents in the country for the past 6 years. What a political statement! He wants to prove that things have fallen apart because he is no longer there. Everything is politicised? Why has there not been a

proper sanitization of the aviation sector? Why have we continued to allow corruption ruin every section of this land? From 2005 till date, those who still use the air space for travels had always known that they were taking risks of heavy proportions. All the while, many of them had often recounted tales of near-death experiences during travels. They had always known that they were flying on the wings of luck. What happened on June 3rd 2012 can simply be understood luck ran out of us? Is it therefore enough just to ground the Dana Airline? No doubts, so many airlines that ply the Nigerian airspace today are worse than Dana. Do we stop with a three-day mourning of the victims of the plane crash and continue with the lousy debate about UNILAG and MAULAG? Is it not time for the government to take action by overhauling the entire aviation sector? Are we not yet tired of waking up to hear that 52 people have been killed in Jos and 60 killed in Bauchi by the boko haram extremists? Or is the more important thing for the moment to argue about who comes and goes in 2015? Are we waiting for it to get too bad again? Let somebody answer me when will all these end?

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