Barely 24 hours after the Federal Government lifted the suspension on the licence of Dana Airlines, an Enugu-bound Aero Contractors plane got entangled in another air mess which, thank to God, did not result in another fatal mishap.

At about 4.30 p.m last Thursday, Bede, a lawyer friend called from Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu. (Bede broke the sad news of the Dana crash of June 3, 2012, to me. So upon hearing his voice again last week I become greatly alarmed). Anyway, he simply said in a mellowed voice that he and other intending passengers were at Enugu Airport watching a plane unsuccessfully trying to touch down the runway.

After about three minutes, Bede called again but this time he was reassuring. He said that an Aero plane from Lagos trying to land at Enugu Airport could not land because the two tyres could not come out and consequently the plane had been hovering in the air. He concluded that he was heading for a motor park to board a Lagos vehicle. Fear gripped me. I started praying.

But at about 7.30 p.m my phone rang again, this time another lawyer fondly called Ik was calling. He narrated that he was on board the troubled Aero plane, that the plane had finally landed in Lagos after three unsuccessful attempts to land in Enugu. Punctuating his statements intermittently with, “we thank God we are alive”, Ik stated that initially the pilot announced that it was raining in Enugu necessitating his inability to land, but after a time the pilot and the crew members stopped communicating. At that juncture, all the passengers on board started screaming. Many sang church choruses. To cut the long agonizing story short, Ik said that as soon as the plane landed in Lagos, all the passengers quickly alighted and took to their heels.

This is not the first time Aero has been involved in near fatal aviation mishap since the Dana crash of June 3. Recentlya friend who boarded an Aero plane complained that the two tyres failed to come out at the time of landing at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, that the plane was almost crash-landing when the two tyres eventually came out. Apart from Aero, many passengers complain that other aircraft used for domestic flights in Nigeria are not airworthy. One doesn’t have to be an aviation expert to arrive at this conclusion.

The last time I boarded Dana aircraft, the plane looked no different from a Lagos molue. Besides, power failure at our airports has worsened. In fact two days after the Dana air crash of June 3, Arik, Aero and one international airliner could not land at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja due to power failure on the runway. A friend who boarded the affected Arik aircraft from Port-Harcourt said that when the plane couldn’t land on getting to Abuja the pilot had no option but to start hovering in the air for awhile before heading back to land at Port-Harcourt airport where it had earlier taken off. The international airline, he said, eventually flew out of Nigeria to land in Equatorial Guinea.

The most painful aspect is the Aviation Minister Ms. Stella Oduah, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) and other Aviation authorities are not in control of the worsening situation. It is a big scandal that Ms. Oduah, AIB and NCAA have turned round to absolve Dana Air of wrongdoing even before the official release of the report of the crash. I am particularly scandalized by the following utterances credited to Stella Oduah, “rather than indict it (Dana), the result clearly showed that the airline is one of the best in the country today. Dana’s manuals, log book and administrative policies are all in compliance with the NCAA rules and regulations… The accident was not due to NCAA’s lack of responsibility and it was not due to Dana not doing what they ought to do.”

Is Ms. Oduah holding brief for Dana Airlines? Is the Aviation Minister now a High Court judge discharging and acquitting institutions of wrongdoing? For me, let Dana Airlines be reopened. Let the gates of Dana Airlines be flung open and let Ms Stella Odua and her family be the first to board a Dana plane from Abuja to Lagos. Welcome on board!

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-stuff-of-nightmares/124701/

alienvirus:".....Ik said that as soon as the plane landed in Lagos, all the passengers quickly alighted and took to their heels....."

^^^Hehehehe . Apparently they couldn't get off that plane fast enough; everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die....not just yet, thankyou very much .

PROUD-IGBO:


^^^Hehehehe . Apparently they couldn't get off that plane fast enough; everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die....not just yet, thankyou very much .

When things like this happen, I always put myself into the situation. I cannot imagine how I would display when if I were in their shoes. TERRIFIC