SAN FRANCISCO, March 13, (THEWILL) – Five years after, the Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, on Monday released the final report on the June 3, 2012 Dana Air mishap in the Iju-Ishaga suburbs of Lagos State, showing that engine failure and poor judgment of the pilots caused the unfortunate incident which claimed all 153 passengers, six crew members and six others aground.

The pilot in command was said to have failed to take a strategic decision to return to base when the first engine of the ill-fated Dana Air Flight 992, with registration number 5N-RAM, failed 17 minutes into the flight and this ultimately led to its crash.

This was disclosed by the AIB Commissioner, Akin Olateru, who in a press conference in Lagos, indicted the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, for exhibiting laxity and poor regulation, which enabled a pilot who was not instrumented on an aircraft to operate it.

While giving a detailed report of the Dana Air flight crash, OAS and two Bristow helicopter accidents,
Olateru said the report on Dana crash showed that after losing the first engine, the second engine on final approach to landing in lagos  lost power and failed to respond to throttle movement on demand for increased power to sustain the aircraft in its flight configuration.

According to the report, the inappropriate omission of the use of the checklist, and the crew’s inability to appreciate the severity of the power-related problem, their subsequent failure to land at the nearest suitable airfield, lack of situation awareness, inappropriate decision making, and poor airmanship were identified as major causes of the accident.

The AIB had published a preliminary report on September 5, 2012 and four interim statements have been published. Four Interim Safety Recommendations were made and have been implemented by the operator and the regulatory authority.

On the AOS helicopter, the bureau identified causes to be non-adherence of the Pilot to Visual Flight Rules of clear-of cloud and obstacles while maintaining ground contact at all times led to Controlled Flight into Terrain, CFIT.

The report also showed that the pilot was not Instrument Rated and lacked route familiarisation, even as five safety recommendations have been made, three of which were targeted at NCAA; one to Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA; and one to Nigerian Police Force.

As regards the Bristow Helicopters, AIB said the causes were identified as 115v cable loom chafed and arced with hydraulic pipeline, puncturing it and causing a high pressure leak which ignited on contact with hot surface of the right hand heat exchanger, resulting in fire on the upper deck.

Contributory factors included effectivity of the aircraft excluded in the Alert Service Bulletin ASB No. 92-20-002A issued by the manufacturer and the Technical Directive TD-S92A-29-99 did not include Check/Inspection of the right hand side of the upper deck.

Meanwhile, two safety recommendations were made in the published report and targeted at Bristow Helicopters.