HISTORY OF THE PROBLEMS OF THE DANA AIRPLANE

There are indications that the Dana Air MC Donnell Douglas MD 83 which
crashed around Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos, yesterday has a history of
worrying defaults even before original owners, US-based Alaska
Airlines sold it to Dana Airlines on February 17, 2009. According to
the information from Aviation Safety Network, an exclusive service of
the Air Safety Foundation, the ill-fated aircraft was acquired by
Alaska Airline in November 13, 1990 with registration number N944AS.
However, on November 4, 2002 the aircraft developed fault and had
emergency diversion due to smoke and electrical smell in the cabin
area, which engineers said was because light ballast had over heated.
Four years after, the aircraft's health was also called to question
when on August 20, 2006, it was again evacuated after landing at the
Long Beach, CA due to a chaffed wire bundle that discharged and
produced smoke in the cabin area again. Apparently scared that the
worst could happen, Alaska Airlines was said to have on August 21
parked the aircraft at Victorville until September 11 2008 when it
carried out maintenance on it. Eventually on February 2009 Alaska
Airlines shifted the burden to Nigeria when it sold the ill-fated
plane as 5N-RAM. The MD-83 was manufactured in 1983, announced
go-ahead on January 31, 1983 and had first flight on December 17, 1984
It was a longer range development of the basic MD-81/82 with higher
weights, more powerful engines, increased fuel capacity and longer
range. It was equipped with slightly more powerful 21,000 1bf (93 kN)
Pratt and Whitney JT8D-219s as standard. The aircraft also had higher
operating weights with MTOW increased to 160,000 1b and MLW to 139,500
1b. Typical range for the MD-83 with 155 passengers in around 2,504
nautical miles (4,637km). This is however not the first time an air
mishap has claimed a large number of people. In fact tracing the
history of air mishaps in Nigeria, shows that: November 20, 1969 –
Nigeria Airways BAC VC10 crashes on landing killing 87 on board.
January 22, 1973 – Royal Jordanian Airlines flight 707 carrying 171
Nigerian Muslims returning from Mecca and 5 crewmen died in crash in
Kano, Nigeria. March 1, 1978 – Nigeria Airways F28-1000 crashes in
Kano killing 16. November 28, 1983 – Nigeria Airways F28-1000 crashes
on approach in Enugu killing 53 on board. July 11, 1991 – Nigeria
Airways DC-8-61 crashes in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from system failure
killing 261 on board. September 26, 1992 – Nigerian Air Force A C-130
plane crashes minutes after take-off from Lagos. All 200 on board
killed. June 24, 1995 – Harka Air Services Tupolev 34 crashes on
landing in Lagos killing 16. November 13, 1995 – Nigeria Airways
Boeing 737-2F9 crashes on landing in Kaduna killing 9. November 7,
1996 – A Nigerian ADC( Aviation Development Corporation ) Airline
Boeing 727-231 flying from Port Harcourt to Lagos with 142 passengers
and 9 crew members crashed on landing, plunging into a lagoon with all
on board killed. January 31, 1997 – SkyPower Express Airways Embraer
110PIA crashes on landing in Yola killing 5. January 5, 2000 –
SkyPower Express Airways Bandeirante 110P1A crashes on landing in
Abuja killing 17. May 4, 2002 – Nigerian EAS Airlines' BAC 1-11-500
with 105 people on board crashed and burst into flames in a poor,
densely populated suburb of Kano. 76 on board killed, including 72 on
the ground bringing it to a total 148 dead. October 22, 2005 – A
Nigerian Bellview Airlines Boeing 737 airliner with 117 people on
board crashes and disintegrates in flames shortly after take-off from
Lagos. All on board killed. December 10, 2005 – A Nigerian Sosoliso
Airlines DC-9 crashes in Port Harcourt, killing all 103 on board. Most
on board were fschoolchildren going home for Christmas. September. 17,
2006 – A Nigerian 18-seater Dornier 228 Air Force transport plane,
carrying 15 senior army officers and three crew members crashed
leaving only three survivors that sustained serious injuries. The
plane with registration number 228-212 crashed in northern part of the
country at Oko village in Vandeikya local government area of Benue
State at about 10:30 a.m. October 29, 2006 – A Nigerian ADC( Aviation
Development Corporation ) Airline Boeing 737 with 104 on board crashes
minutes after take-off from Abuja's airport during a rain storm. All
but 6 perished in the disaster. The spiritual leader of Nigeria's
Sunni Muslims, His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu
Maccido was among the dead. Build-up to final crash of Dana aircraft
MD-83 in Lagos A Dana Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 with registration
number 5N- RAM that finally crashed, yesterday, killing about 153
passengers on board, was a disaster waiting to happen. On May 3, an
unnamed Lagos station manager
of the airline was reported to have drawn the attention of management
of the airlines that the aircraft in question needed to be grounded
for general check-up but that alarm was ignored. So on May 11, 2012,
the same aircraft that was billed for Lagos/Abuja with more than half
capacity passengers and an air return and had emergency landing at the
Murtala Muhammed airport. Reports said passengers on board had to
hurriedly disembark and sought alternative means of travelling. No
casualty. On May 25, 2012, the same plane that was to
do Lagos/Calabar flight also made another air returns to Lagos after
the crew reported
engine fault. There was also no casualty. Then came the final straw.
On June 3, 2012, the same MD-83 with registration number 5N- RAM was
performing a flight 9J-1993 from Lagos to Abuja with 153 passengers on
board when the crew also discovered that the engine had developed
fault. The pilot made a quick air return to Lagos. But while on a
final appraisal to the runway 16L, the aircraft rammed into a power
line, crashed into a build-up area about 5-6nm from touch down and
burst into flames, killing all passengers on board.




Source: Vanguard