by Simon Ateba
At 30,000 feet above sea level, up there in the sky and just five minutes after taking off from the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, western Nigeria, the Dana Air Flight 537 to Abuja began to bounce, shake and struggle.
This was just few minutes to four o’clock in the afternoon and this was when the over 20-year old MD-83 Dana plane was filled to capacity.
The weather was great, the sun was up and turbulence was minimal when we all left Lagos excited to visit Nigeria’s luxurious capital of Abuja.
I was going to Abuja to attend a bloggers’ party at House Forty Three located at 43 Gana Street in Maitama, a highbrow area in Abuja. The party was organised by “A Login Bloggers Network Initiative” with the theme #WetinUDeyBlogSef.
It was an event that had been in the pipeline for two months and excitement was at the very peak.
However, few minutes after taking off, the engine began scream and the plane began to go up and down. We will begin to go down and down and then up and up in za sudden switch.
Passengers on board the old plane began to pray. I wanted to sleep, but sleep failed to come and when food was served, I did not have strength to eat. I was petrified.
This was in addition to the heat. It was as if the cooling system had crashed right from before the old plane took off.
A cabin crew who received a complaint from a passenger said the plane was hot because there were many people on board.
The second cabin crew told us when the plane takes off and we fly for some minutes the cooling system will be normalised.
We all pray for a safe flight, not sure we will make it to Abuja. The latest scare came few minutes to landing. The loud sound that was coming from the engine was similar to the once banned Molue buses on Lagos chaotic traffic snarls.
The noise lasted until we touched down at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja more than an hour after we left Lagos contrary to the 55 minutes we were told for the duration of the flight.
At landing, passengers began to thank their God for a miraculous flight. One passenger approached airport authorities to lodge an official complaint. Another said he had been flying Dana in recent times and it has always been smooth but added: “this very plane seems to be faulty”.
The Dana Air flight 537 to Abuja from Lagos on Friday afternoon almost crashed and may crash in few months if nothing is done fast by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.
You know, I have lived long enough, and got white hair by the way to know that whether here in Abuja, central Nigeria, where I am writing this, thanking God for my life or over there, wherever you’re reading it, the truth remains that if that plane is not fixed urgently, it will kill many people in just few weeks.
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A version of this first appeared on Simon’s Blog
Forget about the intellectual or critical quality of the article and ask yourself certain questions about how our aviation sector has fared in recent time. Is it possible that an airline can field a rickety death-trap of a plane without being called to order? Yes. Has this kind of negligence spelt bloody doom in the past? Yes, and not longer ago, and involving the same airline too. So why do you think an alarm should not be raised at the slightest manifestation of a well known syndrome?
Nawaooo
This is a poorly written article. Very few objective facts. No date or no time for starters.
nigeria need good leaders
Someone in Lagos needs to make sure this Aircraft has been grounded. I just searched online for an official response from Dana airline about this report but found none. This airline does not have its passengers’ well being in mind. Not a single response online is bad. Please boycott this airline till they respond to this incident.
The saddest thing in all of this is that you’ve got public relation guys( or possible stakeholders of Dana Air) making the most dumbest excuse s on the earth; from seat positioning to acceptable heat levels – and not even bothering to acknowledge a customer complaint from 2 people. Obviously the adage of putting the customer first is foreign to Dana and since they can’t even bother to reason with empathy over a customer complaint, then you can guaranteed that they won’t give a hoot about you as a customer. By reading these comments and knowing how these postors have responded I will never fly Dana air again.
this is a matter that requires objective analysis for the betterment of the industry. a frequent flyer knows how turbulence works and its not in the hands of the pilot to clear it. what the pilot can do is to navigate it and ensure the passengers dont feel the discomfort it brings. whether you like it or not all Nigerian airlines use old machines but the most important thing is the maintenance and how often you do that. the writer is just a joker as i think the airline as either refused to give him money or something they have refused to tell the world. the same writer simon ateba has had issues with my pastor when he (my pastor) refused to part with some money for him to do a positive story. now, kindly go to this writer’s page and you would see where the guy wrote positive stuffs about dana and now here he is saying thrash. what he went through was turbulence final. he should get his facts right and give us a true situation and stop wasting our time. he has had it with my pastor, now its dana.
First you sound as if you are an attention seeker,cos apparently there is no way you will board an airline without having your ticket with you as to confirm your flight number, having little knowledge about aviation and you can’t give a better explanation to your so called experience.
Dana air is the only airline that has gone through the international standard audit both in Nigeria and west Africa for safety and has been certified to fly in our airspace and other west African countiries , its obvious you do not know what the weather is, no cabin crew will give you such information about the airplane been hot be it in dana or any other airline, if dana can return from the crash and be better it means they can never be a repetition again.
So get your act and facts together and correctly as you can’t get famous or rich by pulling others down.
So people are still stupid enough to fly that airline… They say na fly wey no dey hear word na him dey follow dead body enter grave! Haba!
I think we should appreciate this person who relayed his Dana flight 537 experience. With one or two complains lodged at the NCAA, something hopefully will be done and impending air accident forestalled. I still haven’t recovered from the death of my Canadian friend, Kim Norris, the IFC- CBN expertriate who was a victim of Dana flight crash in June, 2012.
Wet in you go find for Dana.?
I trust Chief Chidoka, he will not hesitate to take immediate action. He is Mr No nonsense MAN.
Hmm. Na wa o! God help us. Not another crash sometime soon. God save our air travellers
The only key to a safe flight is always pray from your house befor going to the airport! Because if God want to save your life he will not allow you to bored a plan that will take your live, remember Jesus knows all things.
Dana has three MD-83s in operation; the ‘youngest’ of the three is 23.5 years old; the oldest s 24.1 years old; these data are valid as of two months ago; so the planes are older now. By industry standards (and this means outside of Naija), these are old – very old – machines.
No matter how well you maintain a machine…
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The writer should use the unique registration of the aircraft to identify the aircraft. It is located just before the tail and begins with 5N-***. The flight number is used by any aircraft operating on that schedule ie the 4pm LOS – ABJ service. Please try and get the registration number. It is the only way this particular aircraft can be identified and avoided.
Hi everyone, as far as I am concerned, there’s no flight in Dana airlines with the number 537.. If youre in doubt go to http://www.flydanaair.com the writer was probably jobless. Thanks.
I was in this aircraft my brother that was exactly what happend, I was screeming JESUS JESUS when it almost came down after 5 minutes of take off before it suddenly went up again. I went for a meeting in at Garki in company of my colleague Emmanuel. It was terrible, we must all shout now before it kills people. The aircraft itself is too big and too old for local flight.
but people who still use Dana air sha. they stronger than me gan. never
I am writing this only because of a similar experience I had on a Dana flight on my recent visit to Nigeria in October! This was on a Dana flight from Abuja to Port-harcourt!The noise from the engine was alarming and being a frequent flyer, I can say categorically that the noise and body language of the plane was not due merely to turbulence alone! My husband and I were petrified throughout the entire duration of that trip! I fly Dana whenever I am in Nigeria but that particular plane has to be put out of service to avert any impending disaster! Let the needful be done!!
NCAA PLS LOOK INTO THIS. WE CANNOT AFFORD ANOTHER PLAN CRASH AND A HUGE LOSE OF PROMISING LIVES
@chinedu am glad some other person was thinking same thing i was thinking, Either the writer is silly or he was paid to write this. And yes, its normal for planes to be hot at full capacity, and when it reaches a certain altitude it cools. And besides you are more likely to have turbulence when its sunny.
I think the question this man need to be asked is if he is an aviator. Turbulence can occur anytime and it is not only when u can see the sun that the the risk of turbulence isnt there. Clear weather turbulence is even more fearsome and more dangerous. It could also be wake turbulence. Probably he took off after bigger plane has taken off. If he closes the gap between him and the bigger plane too quickly, that could create turbulence. He also didnt disclose where he was seated inside the aircraft. those who are seated towards the farthermost back side of the aircraft are most likely to experience more noise and turbulence than those seated closer to the front
Good afternoon all,
its so unfortunate that our regulatory agencies in Nigeria are not performing their duties diligently as per the state of air planes that foreign investors /business men bring in from other parts of the world just in the name of doing business and making profit. The guys are very smart they know the Nigerian economy is highly capitalized and a very fertile ground that attract any potential investor.i think we just have a problem with continuity in the policies and strategies adopted by various govt that gets into power from time to time. We need a more organized system ,where policies should be treated as one that will last on a long term. Let the Nigerian govt stick to any plans introduced by all regulatory agencies and not influencing decisions as a result of a change in govt.
In as much as I believe NCAA should do their jobs well but no two journeys can be the same there are times d turbulence makes d journey really bad. I went with Dana to Abuja on thur and it was ok but coming back to lagos on sunday night was better. My opinion is Dana is ok and not worse than the other airlines like Arik
You know…i still have a free Dana Air ticket that i refused to use and will always refuse to use it…..I don’t need to be told…Dana is another ticking time bomb.A pity people don’t see that.
I think its good to see both sides of the coin. Chinedu the pen ultimate writer just cleared a lot of doubt.
He claims to have flown in same plane as the original terrified alarming writer even though we are as yet to know the precise date of the flight …presumed to be the much acclaimed black Friday when crazy sales were in the air ie day after America’s thanksgiving.
One thing stands out clearly, there appeared to be some dissatisfaction even though Chinedu, a regular flier,feels its really not much to worry about. Just another turbulence that got sorted out !
As for the poor conditioning, we are almost used to that with our local flights , afterall Arik International occassionally gets heated up too.
Call a spade as should, we have safety standards for all flying craft be it international or local .
Whether someone has been co-opted to tarnish the image of an airline is not the case, I see it as positive criticism to enable the stake-holders involved in this particular aviation industry rise up to guarantee its end-users zero-loss regarding lives and properties.
Good day
I appreciate this whistle-blower and wish many Nigerians would emulate him. If everyone can wake up to his/her responsibilities as watchdog to the impunity wrecking our society, Nigeria will be a better place. May God save his people from yet another calamity this season and forevermore. We have had more than enough.
Thank God flight 537 landed safely after the turbulence caused by Dana Air owners who have suddenly forgotten the Iju disaster. I have not heard anything about the government “white” or “red” paper on the incident.
We cannot just pray for God’s protection when we fail to do what is right. NCAA should immediately withdraw the operating licence of Dana Air. If they want to continue in the business, they should acquire new planes which can pass international safety tests.
from the analyses and time stated by the writer i think that was on the same flight to Abuja. how could a writer be so daft? “the engine began to scream and the plane began to go up and down’ it was as if the cooling system crashed right from before the old plane took off.” obviously this writer was paid to to do this. a frequent flyer should know that a plane experiences turbulence sometimes when it takes off and every plane makes noise as far as it has an engine. i have been following this writer for a long time and his stock in trade is false alarm! for God sake, we all know most Nigerian airlines use old planes so why come out an exhibit massive and unacceptable ignorance! and you call yourself a journalist? these are the unemployable graduates that we are talking about! people who should ordinarily do their jobs diligently now going about collecting brown envelopes to do smear campaign! smh!
You must be a staffed member of Diana Airline as you wrote so defensively in support of it. It does not appear from the writer was set out to criminally indict the Airline. True might be bitter but it pays if to save the lives of the innocent passengers that might be on board. Information like this does not aim to damage anybody but it is for us to take the required precautionary step to avoid disasters.
Mr. Chinedu im sure you work for Dana air, you are telling lies, I was in this aircraft which took off 1.33pm to Abuja, this was exactly what happened. I was at seat number 23A. Stop covering up such a terrible situation. I couldnt relax my mind untill God helped us brought the aircraft down. We all paid N19,800 for that journey to Abuja at the counter. The writer did not collect any brown envelope, and i think you did!
If you are seated that far behind, in an aircraft like DANA you bound to witness more noise and more turbulence than the rest of the passengers seated ahead to the front of the aircraft. Seat 23A is almost the last row on that aircraft and the engines are just by your ears,unlike boeing aircrafts whose engines are beneath the wings. Next time learn to sit wisely.
Thank you very much for your comment and for the records. Dana does not have a 537 plane. I think the poster is a charlatan who’s trying to play to gallery
For the fact that an airline is very expensive does not make it risk free. Aero flies for 10k, and it’s still ok, medview, discovery, first nation to mention but a few, they still fly for cheap fares.
And for the bad record dana has, I think some persons should not just sit in front of their system and type balderdash without getting a detailed information of the cause of this ordeal.
It is too bad for Dana air to continue to use such old plane. God will save us from them
You are suffering from phobia
People should boycott flying on Dana airlines no matter how cheap the cost of the flight ticket, pls remember life has no duplicate.
Thanks for your comments. It calls for great concern but, one would have expected you to be more detailed and explicit. One, you mentioned Friday. What date? Two, you should have mentioned one or two names of the cabin crew on board or two, three passenger’s name and most importantly asked for the pilot’s name while alighted in Abuja if you had missed it when it was announced in Lagos before departing.
All this may help people to tow your line of concern so that people may not see it as working for those Airlines that have horrible time schedules that people are deserting on daily basis.
I expect everyone to follow the wite ups of this writer, even in his blog. Let me repeat, please, do not take anything he writes serious. He is to be taken with a pinch of salt. H ehas no indepth knowledge of journalism, he does not like criticism.. Just be a critic or dont be on his side and the next thing he deletes you from his facebook instantly and tells everybody how he is the best and you dont know what you are saying. Please people, read other important names in the business of journalism and leave this SIMON ATEBA guy. He thinks too much of himself. Ask yourself, what has where he is going to in Abuja, the party and how it is the talk of town ..has to do with a plane he wants to relate to us. How come.. there are no specifics in the story,the only repeated specific was “the 20year old DANA air flight 537”. IS THAT REPORTING???. That it was shaking and loud noises.. and “going up & down”. What kind of reporting is this for something of this magnituse??. This is a very hungry reporter who is chasing ambition, in a very wrong direction.
I came to Lagos from Abuja by 11.16am. Dana flight on that Friday . It was a smooth flight by all standard . Would not know it was the same plane that made the return journey to Abuja or another. In any case a stitch in time save nine as the saying goes. Let the aviation authorities do their supervisory safety regulations
When was this flight? We need to know when? Because i do not understand how after what happened in 2012, they can afford to field a faulty plan to fly people (that is, considering that this happened after June 3rd 2012)
My problem with Nigerians really …we all know Dana had bad record but because of cheap flight cost, we patronize them and turn around to complain. of course you get your money’s worth man …God forbid.
Thank you very much. My thoughts exactly. I don’t know how any reasonable person with a normal sense of self preservation can fly with an airline that has such a horrible past.
Harsh
I plead with you and the authorities concerned, Xmas is just weeks ahead, pls do not let anyone die.
Keep shouting out your recent experience with Dana till a remedial action is taken on the craft. Merry Xmas
Someone somewhere will continue to take a bribe and allow this defective plane to fly until it finally crashes to kill its unlucky passengers. GEJ’s government will then set up committee to investigate the cause of the crash. Meanwhile the bribe taker is untouched & busy collecting more bribes.
This must be shared till it gets to the final authority
Nigeria don’t value life. My brother or sister, complainant. You’re on your own. Nobody gonna listen to you.