YNaija had reported a day after the crash that the pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer were all non-Nigerians. However some papers had erroneously included Mr Amaechi Obodo, indigene of Delta State, among the crew.
He said he did not fly that day because he was off duty from Friday to Sunday and stayed with his mother all through the day.
Mr Obodo however bemoaned the loss of lives in the crash and spoke glowingly of his colleagues that died in the crash, saying: “I loved them dearly. We were on duty together and it is very unfortunate that I lost them that way. May their souls rest in perfect peace.”
The co-pilot came out strongly in defence of his employers, Dana Air, absolving them of any accusation of negligence. He said: “My Airline is the best in the country. I can confidently say that because we are the people that work there. People are just spreading rumours about Dana Air. It is unfortunate it happened that way, nobody could have prayed for it to happen”
On the allegations that the plane was faulty, Obodo said: “The report of the investigations would clear the issue. We need to wait for the result of the black box.”
Source: Ynaija
History of the ill-fated aircraft
ReplyDeleteUS-based Alaska Airlines sold it to Dana Airlines on February 17, 2009.
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.
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 return 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 approach to the runway 19L, the aircraft rammed into a power line, crashed into a build-up area about 5-6nm from touch down.