Dana Air Flight 992 was a scheduled domestic commercial passenger flight from Abuja to Lagos, Nigeria. On 3 June 2012, the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft serving the route crashed into buildings in Lagos while attempting an emergency landing, killing all 153 people on board and 6 on the ground.

light 992 departed Abuja at 14:58 local time and was cleared to flight level 260. At this point, the flight was still normal.[3]

17 minutes after taking off from Abuja, the crew of Flight 992 noticed an abnormality on the left engine and started to discuss the problem. The Captain later stated that "we just want to get home". The First Officer then asked the Captain if he should call the Engineer to analyse the problem, but the Captain declined. The Captain stated that he and the First Officer could figure the cause of the problem by themselves, and declared that the Engineer's help was not needed.[3]

The Captain asked the First Officer if one of the ground crews had tampered with the panel near the plane's rear door, and subsequently stated that "the guy" had problems and was pissed at them. The flight continued to Lagos and the crew continued to discuss the problem they were facing. They noticed that there were differences on the EPR value on the engines. The crew also noticed that there was no response from the left engine when they advanced the throttle lever, thus concluded that the left engine was inoperative. The crew decided to start their descent towards Lagos. As a failure on the left engine occurred, the crew should have looked at their Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) and followed procedures accordingly, but failed to do so.[3]

The Captain then ordered the First Officer to increase Flight 992's rate of descent, however the First Officer declined, stating that the gradual descent was far more effective in order to maintain their height. The crew was then cleared by Lagos for an approach to Runway 18L. The crew later asked for clearance for an approach to Runway 18R and was subsequently cleared by Lagos ATC.[3]

At 15:31 local time, the crew finally declared that there was no throttle response from either engine. As a result, the Captain took over the control from the First Officer. Even though the left engine of Flight 992's was inoperative, the crew didn't issue an emergency call. After the left engine failed, the right engine also started to fail, which was confirmed later by the crew. The crew then switched off several systems on the plane's engine, which were the engine anti – ice, ignition, and bleed – air. At the time, the Captain was still calm and still did not declare an emergency, stating "okay this one is good for us so far".[3]

At 15:35, the Captain stated that they will be investigated by the NCAA.[3]

As the crew received several instructions of headings and radar vectors by the ATC, the crew started to worry about their condition. The crew then started their pre-landing tasks, including the deployment of the air brakes and the setting of the flaps and slats. The engine problem became compounded as thrust was required to continue the final approach.[3]

The First Officer then asked the Captain if both engines were operative, to which the Captain replied, "negative". Both engines failed to produce the commanded thrust. There was never a call for the checklist both normal and non-normal/emergency throughout the flight and there is no indication the Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) was consulted.[3]

At 15:41, the crew declared an emergency when they were 11 nautical miles (20 km) from the airport.[4] and repeated the following messages until they were directed by ATC:

Dual Engine Failure, negative response from throttles.

The crew later selected flaps 28. At the time, the situation seemed to be under control and the crew asked the passengers to prepare for landing.[3]

A few minutes later, the "altitude" warning sounded, and the Captain stated that he had sighted the runway. The flaps were selected up and the crew selected the landing gears up. The Captain stated that he did not want to stall the plane. The Captain then concluded that "we just lost everything, we lost an engine, I lost both engines". During the next twenty five seconds, the Captain requested everything that could help recover thrust including "relight", "ignition override" "just anything" to be given to him. The crew then applied stabilizer trim several times as they tried to avoid obstacles and buildings ahead of them, but their attempts were useless. The plane lost altitude rapidly and the altitude warning sounded until the end of the recording.[3]

The MD-83 crashed in the Iju-Ishaga neighbourhood near the airport, with its tail section first striking an uncompleted building, two trees and three other ground structures. The tail detached from the plane, and the rest of the plane (the front part and the middle part) crashed into the building. The plane then exploded, consumed by its own 8,000 lbs of fuel. Fire occurred throughout the neighbourhood. The uncompleted building was storing flammable liquids in preparation for its intended use as a press building,[5] increasing the fire.[6]

The crash scene became chaotic, with The Sun reporting that thousands of Lagos residents attempted to approach the site. Crowds attempted to bring hoses to the site while soldiers attempted to disperse onlookers with punches and rubber whips. The onlookers then threw stones at the soldiers in retaliation.[5] Water for firefighting was scarce for several hours due to the city's shortage of fire trucks, and civilians attempted to fight the fire by hand with water from plastic buckets. Water trucks commandeered from nearby construction projects had difficulties reaching the site due to the narrow roads.[7]



Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Air_Flight_992
AIB Final accident report:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vQKvEFQkvk

Some people dey behave like terrorists at times

Ladiesdoctor:
Some people dey behave like terrorists at times

The pilots right?
They acted like the plane was a toy!

That is the outcome of having arrogant people in your team, most especially when they are team leader, is highly calamitous and destructive

I read somewhere from a moniker on nairaland whose in-law was on that flight and he received the inflight report thereafter.
Conclusion was; the pilot was totally at fault. He should have returned back to abuja but he didn’t because he had a flight to catch to the US from Lagos.

I hope that moniker quotes me with the report again. It’s a long long time tho.

This is the most incomplete airline crash investigation report i have read, it is like the airline and the investigators planned to totally blame the pilots.

Though the pilots are guilty as well, but the major ? is, what caused both engine to fail? In crash investigation, that is the first puzzle to solve, it wasn't stated and that isn't the pilot's fault, but the airline and their engineers. If the plane was in order, all these would have been avoided.
We take alot of things for granted in this country.

dulux07:
This is the most incomplete airline crash investigation report i have read, it is like the airline and the investigators planned to totally blame the pilots.

Though the pilots are guilty as well, but the major ? is, what caused both engine to fail? In crash investigation, that is the first puzzle to solve, it wasn't stated and that isn't the pilot's fault, but the airline and their engineers. If the plane was in order, all these would have been avoided.
We take alot of things for granted in this country.

The cause of engine failure is irrelevant because when the first engine failed, the pilots should have requested for an emergency landing at the nearest airport!
But they chose to continue the flight!! That was extremely poor judgement which penultimately led to the fatal crash!

magicminister:


The cause of engine failure is irrelevant because when the first engine failed, the pilots should have requested for an emergency landing at the nearest airport!
But they chose to continue the flight!! That was extremely poor judgement which penultimately led to the fatal crash!

Lol, it is absolutely relevant, and it is mandatory irrespective of the pilots error, any standard airline would tell you that, if it wasn't, airline wouldn't be as safe as it is today.
Humans are prone to error, that is why the airplane is designed to be so safe, with at least 2pilots, auto pilot, at least 2working engines.

It is easy to say that simply because the pilots had a choice cos the engine failed shortly after take off, they could have returned, but what if they were half way into the flight.

dulux07:

Lol, it is absolutely relevant, and it is mandatory irrespective of the pilots error, any standard airline would tell you that, if it wasn't, airline wouldn't be as safe as it is today.
Humans are prone to error, that is why the airplane is designed to be so safe, with at least 2pilots, auto pilot, at least 2working engines.

It is easy to say that simply because the pilots had a choice cos the engine failed shortly after take off, they could have returned, but what if they were half way into the flight.

I think you’re right. I don’t know nearly enough about aviation to speak to this. Maybe the OP can help us decide!!

magicminister:


I think you’re right. I don’t know nearly enough about aviation to speak to this. Maybe the OP can help us decide!!

I think the report sufficiently shows that extremely poor judgement was the cause of the crash. Though, the cause of the first and second engine failure should have been included in the report.
The first engine failed soon after take off. There was no reason to continue that flight. What were they thinking?

magicminister:


I think you’re right. I don’t know nearly enough about aviation to speak to this. Maybe the OP can help us decide!!

the first engine shut down 20 minutes into d air, he should have returned to Abuja