Dana Air Flight 992: A Tragic Sequence of Events


It was on 3 June 2012 that Dana Air Flight 992, a regular domestic flight in Nigeria, became a grisly disaster that killed all the 153 passengers and crew on board the flight, and six individuals on the ground. The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, was flying from Abuja to Lagos, and Captain Peter Waxtan and First Officer Mahendra Rathore were the crew. The flight took off from Abuja carrying 147 passengers and six crew members, along with Captain Waxtan and First Officer Rathore. The flight started routinely, but an avalanche of errors and bungles crept in, and the plane crashed with unprecedented fatalities. The pilots detected deviations in the performance of the left engine just seventeen minutes into the flight. Brushing aside this warning sign, the captain's obsession with landing in Lagos seemed to override the need to take appropriate corrective action. Instead of following standard operating procedures and calling for the services of maintenance personnel to troubleshoot the fault, flight crew attempted to chase the cause themselves. This was the initiation of the disaster chain of events. During the flight to Lagos, the engine performance was unstable, and the crew had no control over the left engine. Instead of calling the Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) and following the standard procedures, the crew did not respond accordingly. Their failure to follow standard procedures and make decisions based on themselves alone would prove to be expensive in the long run. Even when it was found that the left engine was not usable, no mayday was called by either of the pilots, and the situation continued to deteriorate. The right engine then started to fail, and the crew's frantic attempts at regaining thrust were not successful. The crew never declared an emergency, even when in the dire situation, when it was already too late. MD-83 started descending into Lagos, the crew started the pre-landing checklist and extended the speed brakes and flaps. The crew's actions, nevertheless, were founded on an inadequate perception of their aircraft situation and no consultation of the QRH. The aircraft continued to descend steeply, and attempts at restoring power and trimming the aircraft were not successful. As the plane attempted to avoid obstructions and buildings, the tail of the plane clipped buildings and the plane then crashed into a building near the airport. The impact resulted in a catastrophic explosion that killed all 153 people on board the plane and six people on the ground. The crash of Dana Air Flight 992 is a gruesome reminder that the importance of adherence to tried and tested procedures and protocols in aviation cannot be emphasized enough. Good decision-making was lacking, adequate resources were not consulted, and improvising to manage a complicated emergency with no training and adequate backup were all contributory to this fatal accident. This is a lesson of the tragedy that highlights the absolute importance of crew training, communication, and adherence to safety procedures to ensure a reasonable standard of living for all those who work within aviation.

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