Carelessness, Recklessness and Insolence of Indian-owned Dana Air blamed for Nigeria Crash

June 4th, 2012, Updated 9pm

NewsRescue– Yesterday, June 3rd was a tragic day in Nigerian aviation history, as at about 3.43 pm, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 Dana airliner sent out a May-day call 11 Nautical miles from the Lagos Murtala Mohammed Airport(MMA).

The plane crashed shortly after, about 4 nautical miles to landing. It went up in flames in Ishaga residential area, claiming the lives of at least 10 people on ground in addition to the 153 on board.

Old Western nation retired Airliners used in Africa –IBTimes

The average age of Dana’s airliners are 21 years according to Planespotters.net. According to a Nigerian aviation blog, the plane that crashed on Sunday was a former Alaska Airlines MD-83 built in 1990. On May 11, a similar Dana Air plane — or possibly the same one — developed a technical problem and was forced to make an emergency landing in Lagos, the BBC reported.

In contrast, the average age of US domestic airliners is 13 years.

The major Airline crashes in 2005, the more tragic period in Nigeria’s aviation history were likewise related to aged and unmaintained aircrafts.  The 24 year old Boeing 737 Bellview Airlines that crashed on October 22, 2005 and the Sosoliso Flight 1145, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 which was 32 years old when it crashed in December, 2005.

Plane crash site with rescue workers {VOA}

Dana airline unfit to fly- This is ‘murder!’

A passenger who flew the ill-fated Dana aircraft’s earlier flight to Abuja the morning of the accident, informed us that he noticed engineers listening to the plane controls with headphones, while he boarded. This was very unusual to him and gave him creepy feelings.

Itinerary of passenger who spotted engineers listening to ill-fated craft before boarding the morning of the tragedy

The worn out planes used in Nigeria are not only retired from western fleets, but not adequately maintained, and are ‘managed’ to fly even though they clearly fail critical standards of operation. This is the precise case of the Dana MD-83 airliner that went down yesterday.

The airliner was said to be totally unfit to fly. The plane was said to have been under repair for weeks and was reported by German stations as a write-off.

Before the tragic event, the station manager had warned that the plane should not fly, but it is reported that the Indian owners-now on the run- had rejected reason and all advice and warnings, and out of recklessness, allowed it fly, leading to the untimely death of many great Nigerians.

According to this report by the airline personnel:

We were forced to fly the faulty plane – Dana officials & same plane had issues in Uyo, Calabar and Abuja and even yesterday morning !June 4, 2012 at 10:14am

Late Pastor Akin, House of The Rock, Abuja {Nairaland}

An official of Dana Airlines who does not want to be named has just confirmed to Channels Television that the ill-fated Dana Air flight 0992, MC Donnell Douglas (MD 83) was faulty even before it took off from Abuja.She also claimed the flight has very recent history of problems and it was not supposed to have flown.

According to the official, “the plane has had problems that the airlines were aware and should not have flown but the owners insisted that the ill-fated flight must go ahead.

“The same plane had issues in Uyo, Calabar and Abuja over the last few weeks and even experienced issues yesterday morning.”

Officials of Dana Air were advised earlier that the plane shouldn’t fly due to some faults noticed in it, but the Indian owners insisted that the air craft should fly.

Also, the Special Adviser, Technical to Minister of Aviation, Mr. Victor Oche Elias, has revealed that the pilot of the ill-fated plane, had alerted the aviation authority of the airport, on the emergency situation 11 nautical miles to landing.

 Dana staff describes the planes unworthiness to fly on ChannelsTV

The Nigerian Tribune newspaper reported an emergency landing of the Dana airline just last Month!

Dana aircraft makes emergency landing in Lagos, May 11th, 2012

Shola Adekola, Lagos

AN MD 83 aircraft belonging to Dana Air, with 86 passengers onboard  from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Thursday evening, made an emergency landing at the 19-R runway and was towed away after it blocked the international runway of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

The aircraft ran into problem while preparing to land at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, as it suffered hydraulic pressure, a situation that forced the pilot to declare an emergency landing.

The aircraft was cleared for landing in 19-R, the longer runway, but after landing, passengers were panicky, as most of the evacuation buses did not arrive on time.

Corporate Communication Manager of Dana Air, Mr Tony Usidaimen, confirmed the incident.

“Our flight from Uyo with 86 passengers lost hydraulic pressure and when the captain noticed it, he declared an emergency and was asked to land on 19-R. Although there was no injury, there was a panic, because the evacuation team did not arrive on time,” he said.

According to The Nation, Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio yesterday said he recently warned the Managing Director of Dana Air on the need to ensure its aircraft are air-worthy.

Rev. Ayodeji and Ngozi Cole {Nairaland}

The governor, according to a statement by his Commissioner for Information, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, advised Dana’s management in a recent telephone chat not to endanger the lives of Nigerians.

The governor’s warning came on the heels of an averted air disaster involving Dana aircraft en-route Lagos from Uyo, which had technical problems that forced the aircraft to hover for hours before finally making it to Lagos.

Akpabio bemoaned the disaster and described it as a national calamity that calls for more stringent safety measures in the aviation sector.

He said regulatory agencies should ensure that airline operators adhere strictly to global aviation operational standards.

The governor, who called on airline operators in the country not to experiment with the people’s lives, maintained that similar situations had caused serial air disasters in the past thereby resulting in massive loss of lives and the extinction of affected airlines.

Aviation Ministry deficits

Rueben Abati, spokesman for the president of Nigeria presented the presidents regret at the national tragic incidents, in a statement, he expressed, “every possible effort will be made to ensure that the right lessons are learnt … and that further measures will be put in place to boost aviation safety in the country.”

But this is not reassuring, too little and in this instance, too late. The Nigerian Aviation ministry is ultimately responsible for allowing the careless and exploitative actions of the Indian run airline, go unabated in Nigeria to this devastating effect.

Nigeria is known for its corruption and mismanagement at all levels of governance, and corruption and lassitude as with this case is very well terrorism on the citizenry from both the Nigerian aviation Ministry and the Indian management of Dana air.

Holding both responsible for this crime against Nigerians and accountable must be the first step in bringing about a revamping of poor policies and irresponsible behavior on the part of home run and foreign run airliners.

It has been observed that the Lagos local airport which has been under repair for months now is in a state of ‘mess’, with tents being used for check-in and security highly lacking. The negligence of the Aviation ministry must immediately be checked with officers fired and jailed as need be.

Foreign Companies Must be thoroughly scrutinized in Nigerians’ interest

Indeed foreign based companies must be held to greater scrutiny due to an unfortunate insensitivity to the value of Nigerian life.

There have been similar complaints about Indian run businesses in Nigeria, including one tailored below, where a certain patient claimed she was diagnosed with fibroids, opened and closed by Indian surgeons at the Indian Specialist Hospital, Karu, Abuja and it was later found that they did not remove any of the fibroids they had claimed to have received $5000 for.

Quack Indian Doctors Allegedly Exploiting Nigerians In Abuja

I am hurt and I wish to spread this news fast. If you had listened to the network news in FRCN this morning, this issue was seriously broadcasted and analyzed by the Reporter. It was also broadcast Monday last week.
The Indian operated Specialist hospital in Karu Site, Abuja are Quacks, Fake, 419 and exploiters of Nigerians. If you know anybody going or planning to go to that hospital, please stop the person immediately.
The hospital was built by FCT as Karu General hospital but all of a sudden it was leased to this killer Indians to operate as specialist hospital.
Charges in this hospital is exploitative, only registration alone in N25,000.00.

MAIN ISSUE

In November 2011, my sister went to the Indian Hospital for Fibroid operation. The Indian thieves diagnosed her and said her case is very complex. She was charged a total of N700,000.00. On the day of operation, she was taken to the theatre and was Open up. What do I mean. She was torn OPEN-UP and stitched back without removing any fibroid. When she recovered from the effect of the Anastasia, they congratulated her for successful operation and that lumps of fibroid had been removed from her. My sister requested from the doctors to see the lumps which is a normal practice in every hospital, the Indian thieves said the lumps had been taken to lab for analysis, that they will show her later. Till today my sister have not sighted the fibroid lumps that was removed from her.From the night after the operation, my sister started feeling serious pains than what she had before. She complained to the Indian thieves, they said it will be okay and discharge after three days with the pains. She went home and had more pains than ever aside the torn wound. We decided in December 2011 to go for scan in another lab. The scan result shows that there are heavy lumps of fibroid in her and that there is absolutely no sign that any removal attempt had been carried out even though there is evident that she was opened up for surgery. We tried the scan in another specialist hospital in Asokoro, Abuja. It was the same result. My sister then disguised herself with another name and went for scan in the same Indian specialist hospital Abuja and they confirmed that she was open up but not an iota of fibroid was removed from her. My sister lied to the scan officers that the operation was done in Benin hence she will require a comprehensive report from the Indian Killer hospital and the they did a beautiful job in putting the whole report in black and white.
January this year, my sister went for the same fibroid operation in another hospital in Asokoro, Abuja and she was operated successfully and the lumps of fibroid removed were shown, the operation was videoed and pictures of everything were taken and are well kept.

She has written petitions to Medical and Dental Council of Niger, Nigerian Medical association, Minister of Health, and we making effort to present it to the National Assembly. Many media reporters have interviewed her, Some have written already. FRCN has carried twice as main news item.
Investigation by media reveals that those Indians are quacks, they do not posses basic medical credentials. The Head of the hospital an Indian woman is not a medical doctor. The deputy is her son and not a medical doctor as well. A specialist hospital operating in a Nigerian Government Built Infrastructure do not have a medical director!
Nigerian Medical Council have confirmed that this Indians were brought during the former Minister of FCT and were horridly given temporary permission to operate without passing through the normal registration procedure by the council.
DONT BE A VICTIM, BE WARNED. SPREAD THE NEWS TO ANY NIGERIAN YOU KNOW. AVOID INDIAN SPECIALIST HOSPITAL, KARU SITE, ABUJA.

Dana Air Passenger list

Lindaikeji.blogspot.com:

Crash Victim- NNPC Public Affairs, Levi Ajuonuma, far right

Onyeka Anyene; Hurria Lawal; Maimuna Anyene; *Bakisumiadi Yindadi; Ebuka Enuma; Oluchi Onyeyiri; Sunday Enuma; George Moses; Ogechi Njoku; Noah Anyene; Kamsiyona Anyene; Stanford Obrutse; Kaiyenotochi Anyene; Okeke Hope; Rev. Ayodeji Cole; Ngozi Cole; Noah Anyene; Ailende Ehi; Oluwasegun Funmi Abiodun; and *Shehu Sahad Usman, Alade Martins; Onita Jennifer (Mrs); Onita Josephine; Ike Ochonogo; Joy Alison; John Ahmadu; Akowe Fatokun Anjola; *Fatokun Olaoluwa; Fatokun Ibukun; Buhari Maikudi; Amina Idris Bugaje; Ajani *Adenle; IkeAbugu; Adijolola Abraham; Obot Emmanuel; Otegbeye Hadiza; Ehioghae Sunny; Onwuriri Celestine; Abikalio Otatoru; Noris Kim; Eyo Bassey; Njoku Charles; Anibaba Tosin; Okocha Christopher; Sobowale Femi; and Phillip Chukwu Ebuka, Sparagano Lawrence; Somolu Oluwakemi; Ariyibi Temitope; Meche Eke; *Ojugbana Amaka; Ojugbana Christopher; Buna Walter; Coker Olumide; Lilian Lass; *Mutittir Itsifanus; Yusuf Alli; Lt. Col. Jumbo Ochigbo; Eribake Wale; Zhai *Shuta; Wang Yu; P. Awani; O. Awani; N. Chidiac; Rijoel Dhose; Li Hizha; Apochi Godwin; Lang Yi; Yinusa Ahmed; *Faysal Inusa; Mojekwu Adaobi; Ibrahim D; Bamaiyi Adamu; Ifekowa Jones; Peter Nosike; Anthony Nwaokocha; Mahmud Aliyu; *Nnadi John; Akweze Elizabeth; Dorothy Adedunni; Echeidu Ibe; Maria Okulehi; Jennifer Ibe; * Okoko junjip; Sarah Mshelia; Ahmed Mbana; Okonji Patrick; Oyosoro Rajuli; Oyosoro Ugbabio; Kaikai Farida; David Kolawole Fortune; Eyinoluwa David Kolawole; Kaltum Abubakar; and Dakawa Mahmud. Patience Sunday Udoh; Asuquo Iniebong; Onemonelese Aimeihi; *Onyeagocha Chidinma; Onyeagocha Ogechi; Ike Okoye; Amaka Raphael; Ijeoma Onyinjuke; Garba Abdul; Aisha *Abdul; Benson Oluwayomi; Anthony7 Opara; Taiwo Lamidi; Awodogan Olusanmi; Obi Chinwe; Shaibu Memuna; Major I.G Mohammed; *Nagidi Ibrahim; Attah Anthonia; Shaibu Sam; Ifeanyi Orakwe; Obinna Akubueze; Li Rui; Xie Zhenfeng; Oko Eseoghene; Chukwuemeka Okere; Adetunbi Adebiyi; Ibrahim Mantakari; Was Ruth; Wasa *Awiyetu; Ojukwu Alvana; Lawal Anakobe; Nabil Garba; Mohammed Falmata; Ibrahim Jangana; Okikiolu Olukayode; Komolafe Olugbenga; Dike Chinwe; Dike Chike Ezugo; Olusola Arokoyo; Adetola Ayoola; Akinola Olumodeji; Olukoya Banji Saka Otaru; Adeleke Oluwadamilare; Yusuf Ibrahim; Ikpohi Obiola; Aikhomu Ehimen; *Levi Ajuonuma

Pilots, staff, please inform us of unworthy aircraft and management

At this time since the citizens under a failed government must take situations into their own hands, we implore of all pilots and aircraft related personnel to alert us, email: [email protected] about any unfit airlines so we ensure that the plane management and the citizenry take necessary action and precaution.

It’s still 1000 times safer to travel by air

Nigeria has a category 1 safety standard, despite the recent accident. Ghana, Bangladesh etc have a category 2, lower rating.

According to CNN:

“Particularly in the developing world, you have to look at how extraordinarily safe aviation is. Even though an airline might appear a little risky by your Western standards, it could easily be 1,000 times safer than taking the same trip on the road,” Voss said.

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Know the ages of Nigerian Aircraft

Airline Country Information
AeroContractors
Nigeria 9 aircraft
Air Nigeria
Nigeria 12 aircraft
Arik Air
Nigeria 20 aircraft
Associated Aviation Nigeria 4 aircraft
Axiom Air Nigeria 1 aircraft
Bellview Airlines
Nigeria 2 aircraft
Capital Airlines Nigeria 1 aircraft
Chanchangi Airlines Nigeria 4 aircraft
Dana Air
Nigeria 4 aircraft
Federal Government of Nigeria Nigeria 2 aircraft
FirstNation Airways Nigeria 3 aircraft
IRS Airlines Nigeria 4 aircraft
Kabo Air Nigeria 7 aircraft
Max Air
Nigeria 4 aircraft
Niger Gvmt Nigeria 1 aircraft
Overland Airways Nigeria 5 aircraft
Topbrass Aviation Nigeria 2 aircraft
Wings Aviation Nigeria 2 aircraft
ADC Airlines
Nigeria Unactive (with supported aircraft)
Afrijet Airlines Nigeria Unactive (with supported aircraft)

The calculation of the fleet age can be approximated because it is only based on the supported aircraft

Source: http://www.airfleets.net/recherche/list-country-Nigeria_0.htm